Icarus
by Gia279
Summary: Just an idea. Added some OC'S, and the orignal char's might be OOC. Love, action, and fights, so be prepared for battle! And an extra werewolf...
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Just an idea, something for me to work on. Also, the experiments sound somewhat like JP's Maximum Ride, so I'm going to put two disclaimers, just in case. James Patterson mostly came up with the idea of scientists who experiment on children and give them wings, so that thought is mostly his. Kelley Armstrong owns the characters and main idea. The story plots and twists and Phoebe, James, Ava, and Tobais are mine as well as any other characters I add. ^^ R&R PLEASE. **_

**Prologue**

"Alright, Phoebe is right there." James whispered, pointing to a map. Tobias nodded silently. His little sister, Phoebe, would be rounding the corner in a matter of seconds and they- James and Tobias- best friends- were about to ambush her. They had to.

"Ready…" James was bouncing forward a little, the part of him that was half demon enthralled at the chance to attack someone. If not to kill, then to at least do some sort of damage. Tobias scowled at him; he may have been best friends, but he hated the way James acted sometimes. Phoebe started around the corner, alone, a sheet of paper in hand. James lunged, hitting her, throwing her against the wall. Her head bounced hard against the wall, her eyes doing a slow roll into the back of her head. Tobias hissed and grabbed the paper, reading it. He sighed- they'd gotten to her just in time, just before she went to assassinate four young supernaturals:

_**Souza, Derek- werewolf Saunders, Chloe- necromancer Bae, Simon- sorcerer Enright, Victoria- witch/sorcerer hybrid**_

"Alright, the chip is on the back of her neck- or, I guess, in. We have to do this quickly." Tobias told James, who was already moving Phoebe's long hair. Tobias gathered it into a long ponytail so that there wouldn't be any blood in it when they finished. James took out the scalpel he managed to steal and lowered it toward Phoebe's pale skin. Tobias looked away.

Phoebe woke about an hour later. Tobias was happy to find her snapping at him about the risk he took and listened when she lead the way to Ava- the youngest child at the institute, age 7- and then they went for James's escape plan. He prayed that this would work. Because otherwise they were dead. Literally.

**Chapter One- Chloe's POV**

Kit had moved us closer to New York State again, this time to monitor. One of his contacts had told him that the laboratory that we'd nearly demolished was cleaned up and running again. This was news to us. So we got closer, just to watch it. We didn't get much, just people coming in and out, children, teenagers. Looking completely normal. We were in another hotel, as we had been since we found Kit, rescued Aunt Lauren, and had escaped the Edison Group (again).

"Chloe, are you okay?" Lauren asked. "You've been quiet." She kept trying to get me to talk, but I wasn't in the mood to speak to her at the moment. It wasn't that I was mad at her – I wasn't- but more of she treated me like I was still her sweet little Chloe when I wasn't. I wasn't her little girl anymore. I may have only been an inch taller than a year and a half ago, but in maturity, I was pretty much an adult. It was almost unfair that she treated me like a ten-year-old.

"I'm fine." I lied, and then looked out the window again. "I'm just tired. I had a nightmare last night." That was the truth, but I'd woken up before raising any nearby animals from their graves. Or from the side of the freeway. I was proud of myself. I hadn't accidentally raised anything since the graveyard with Margaret, and I hadn't purposely raised anything since the laboratory.

At this thought, my stomach clenched in disgust and guilt, but I knew it had to be done. Dr. Davidoff was going to shoot someone, and if I hadn't have done that it could've been Kit or Lauren, or Tori, or Simon, or—I told my brain to shut up, because if I let myself think of who else it could've been, my face would show that panic; it wasn't worth the fuss that it would cause.

"Right. I heard you tossing and turning- and Tori was complaining about it earlier. Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, leaning closer almost eagerly. I knew it was because I had been ignoring her offers to talk and instead going to Derek with my problems. I also knew that it was my choice and I didn't have to tell her anything I didn't feel like telling her. That was something I wasn't used to, a freedom I never realized I'd wanted.

"I can't remember it." Or most of it. This was also true. The dream, at this point was more a few flashes of pictures and a sense of fear than anything. If I talked to Derek about it, he'd just demand that I remember the details, and then tell me those things were nothing to worry about.

"Hey, Dr. F- Lauren, Chloe. Dad wanted to know if you guys want Chinese tonight, instead of pizza." Simon said, coming in with a smile. He'd grown in the past year and a half, way more than I had. He'd been 5'6, and was now a proud 5'11, which, considering how tall his father was (or was not) we figured he wasn't going to pass into the six foot range. Derek remained 6'4, still as muscular as he had been. He looked more like an adult now, in the face, so people weren't scared of him so much as admiring (at least the older, middle aged women- he scowled about this, but I thought it was funny). Kit made it a point to tell him that he was lucky- I could've been jealous of all the attention he now got; Derek always shot back that he could feel the same way. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Yes, we'd like Chinese- I can't eat any more pizza." I said, shuddering. Lauren shot a look at me, like I shouldn't have said "we" but I ignored her.

"Same here. Are we invited over?" She always asked this, because she knew that Simon wasn't exactly fond of her considering the way she treated Derek now that we weren't in a life threatening situation. Kit was a little better at hiding how he felt, but I had a feeling that he wasn't happy about the way Lauren treated him either; I wasn't . Tori was mostly the same- even the shock of losing her mother couldn't keep her down too long. By down, I mean normal, nice, quiet….not snarling at everyone that moves too close to her…

"Yeah." He shrugged carelessly and led the way to the boys' room. Tori was over there, working on a computer we'd gotten from a friend, with the files we got from the lab. Kit hadn't told her that she was his biological daughter- yet. I wasn't sure if Derek knew, so I hadn't told him, even if it bothered me not to.

"I just ordered the food, okay?" Kit said, smiling at us as we came in. Simon moved back to his bed, falling on his back. Derek was sitting at the table, reading what could have been a normal book, but I'm sure it was a book on math or scientific theories or something. Tori was at the coffee table, typing rapidly, eyes skimming.

"Hey, here's something. Didn't you say that Royce said something about an Icarus project, Chloe?" Tori called. I hurried over.

"Yeah, he did. He also mentioned the Phoenix project, too."

"Well, I don't see anything about a Phoenix project in here. I'm just going off what I can find." She snapped. "Just the Icarus project. And there's not even that much on here about it. Just some….things. I'm not sure I'm fond of what I'm understanding though."

"I don't understand." I said slowly.

"Look." She pointed to a paragraph. "They were experimenting on them. As far as I can tell, the kids are teenagers, and they're still locked up there. There are five of them, apparently. There isn't a lot of information here, but…" she shrugged. "I'm just glad we got put in the Genesis Project, instead of the Icarus." Kit was leaning over her, grimacing as well.

"I don't think our department was involved in that one." He shook his head. "Either way, maybe we should try to get them out."

"What if…" I started slowly, glancing around. Derek gave me a slow nod: he was thinking along the same lines. "What if they got out or escaped when we escaped? What if we let them out with all the destruction we caused? We can't have been the only ones locked up there."

"Ava." Lauren whispered, hand covering her mouth.

"What's that?" I asked, glancing over at her.

"There was a little girl named Ava locked up there, too. She was seven. They barely used to let her out at all- she used to play tricks on their minds, because she was upset. Her parents had given her up. The way they talked about her though, I think she was in the Icarus project."

For a while, we all talked about this, and what it could mean, and how we were going to find these other five. Because we had to, at least to see if they were still alive. This was probably what was going on, why the lab was back up and running again. We all discussed theories, though Lauren kept shooting Kit looks, like he was telling us too much, letting us be involved too much. We weren't children, though, and were grateful that he let us stay and discussed theories with us. One thing in particular was the story of Icarus, flying too close to the sun, wings melting, all that. I had no idea what the connection could be, but no one knew anything else involving the word/name Icarus. Tori finally threw her hands up at midnight.

"Screw this! Fine. Maybe they have wings on their backs and they can fly and that's why it's called the Icarus project. Can we go to bed now?" she snapped.

"Yes, I think it's time to go to bed." Lauren said, standing up. She had dark circles under her eyes. I sighed and stood up, too, deciding it was not worth the fight with her to argue that we could be close. Kit looked tired, too.

I think it was dawn or somewhere close to it, but suddenly someone was shaking my shoulder very gently. I blinked awake, groaning a little when I saw the clock: 3:15 AM. I wrinkled my nose and glared through my bedhead hair at whoever had woke me up. My heart gave a painful thump. Derek's eyes were glowing like a wolf's, his face just a little sweaty. But he was used to this, and calm as he waited for me to get my bearings.

"Wanna come?" He always asked now, so that it sounded like a question, instead of him begging me to come with. I think he liked having me there, but I'm not sure. Maybe he thinks I like coming- I do, but because I think that he likes me there…

"Yeah." I said, standing up quickly. He handed me my sneakers, then a jacket. It wasn't mine- it was his. "Won't you be cold?" I asked, then realized my mistake. He grinned.

"Do I look like I'll be cold?"

"I just thought you might be after…" I mumbled. He kissed my cheek, as was his habit when he said I was doing something "cute" which he was getting bolder about saying.

He took me out behind the hotel, into the conveniently placed woods. We walked for awhile, talking, but I noticed that he was breathing just a little heavier, walking a little faster, the longer we took. Finally, we found a clearing, and Derek stripped to his shorts, (he brought an extra pair this time, for when he Changed back), and crouched down. I sat on the ground next to him, encouraging, though the Changes came a lot faster and easier for him now, now that he did it at least twice a week. It would HAVE to be only once a week, but the brainiac noticed that the more he Changed, the easier it was.

When he was a wolf, he gave me a dog-like grin and nudged me playfully, as if he was proud of himself; he always was. He was like a little kid in this form, playful, much bolder. It was "cute", as much as a 200 pound wolf can be cute.

"As _cute_ as you think that is," I panted when he tackled me from the side, "you're a little too heavy to be doing that." He jumped off in a hurry, prodding me with his nose to check for injuries. "I'm fine." I said, batting him away. "I was kidding." He still whined a little, lowering his head onto his paws to watch me. I rolled my eyes, yawning. "You woke me up to stare at me all night?" He snorted, standing and walking away with his tail stiff behind him. I grinned, sticking my tongue out at his back. But then he kept walking. "Derek?" He kept walking; I stood up.

"That's not funny." I snapped. "D-don't-" I swallowed hard. "Fine." I sat down on his clothes, curling his t-shirt up around me like a blanket. He snorted hard and looked around, tongue lulling out. I smiled at him, though shivering a little. He stared at me for a minute before coming back and sitting dutifully beside me. I gave him a hard look, telling him that I was completely fine on my own, but he ignored me or pretended to not understand what I was saying.

I think I fell asleep at some point, because I woke up in a bed, but it was facing the wrong way- I was in the boys' room. I tried to organize my sleep-addled thoughts, to figure out what had woken me, but all I could hear was an ominous pounding. It took me a moment to realize that's what _DID_ wake me. I looked around- Derek was on the far side of the bed, sleeping in sweats and a t-shirt. There was a very chaste space between us, a foot or two, but considering that I knew it was Lauren on the other side of that door, I gave Derek a very hard kick to the hip. He woke with a sharp jerk, looking around.

"Is that-?"

"Yes. Go move Simon." I hissed. Simon got his own bed, as did Derek-usually- and Kit slept on the couch. Derek made a quick leap of faith and shoved Simon as far from himself as he could, then yanked the covers up over himself; Kit woke up then, glancing at me, then at his sons. He looked confused- I looked asleep; at least, I hope I did. Then he heard Lauren pounding on the door and went to answer it, yawning fiercely.

He opened the door to a disheveled, demented Lauren. She was still in her pajamas, looked thoroughly pissed, and her eyes were bloodshot. She looked around, then snarled something at Kit, pointing at me.

"She's asleep, Lauren. Nothing to get in a fuss about. Derek's with Simon; they know better." He assured, yawning again. She was still red faced and gesticulating. "Well, if you think there's something wrong, go wake her up and talk to her yourself, then." He yawned once again and I wondered what was with him. He shuffled back, allowing Lauren to move into the room, then headed for the couch. Lauren shook me "awake". I made an effort to wake slowly, blinking and looking confused.

"Wha'?" I said, yawning. "Wha's matter?" She glared at me suspiciously, then whipped around to look at Derek and Simon, who were both "sleeping". I could tell they weren't- Derek was just a little too still, a little bit tense; Simon wasn't snoring.

"Why are you in here, Chloe?"

"Think I fell asleep…" I mumbled, making a face. Ew. Morning breath. "Watching a movie." I finished, yawning again, for real this time.

"Really? What movie?"

"_Resident Evil 3._" I said easily, shrugging. "Zombies, blood, fighting. It was okay. Better than the second one, anyway." I looked at her expectantly. She seemed at a loss for words.

"You know better. I told you-" She halted because in all reality, she _hadn't_ told me anything about falling asleep accidentally in here. She just said not to be in here unchaparoned, which I could point out that I wasn't- Kit had not left the room the entire time I was here, as far as I knew.

"Told me…?" I prompted, which I knew was so unlike me that I flushed. "Look, we didn't do anything. Derek must've noticed that I fell asleep and put me here, then fell asleep on Simon's bed." It was the wrong way to explain things. Her face reddened in anger again and she spun on Kit.

"See? She fell asleep _before_ him. What if he'd done something-" We never found out what he would've or could've done, because the sound of a loud _**BANG**_ cut her off. Then Tori started screaming.

"_I told you not to do that, Fee!"_ An unfamiliar male voice all looked at each other in panic, and then we flew through the door, running to our room. The door was open, the frame broken and splintered. Something shoved me down; black boots came into my line of sight.

"Sorry about that. That's your room right? My sister didn't mean to break the door." A soothing male voice said. A fair skinned boy with dark auburn hair stood before me, a half smile on his face. He grimaced, then quite suddenly disappeared, reappearing inside the room. I blinked as Derek pulled me to my feet carefully.

"Are you okay?" he asked, brushing dirt off my cheek. I nodded.

"Derek- he just-"

"Disappeared?" he asked dryly. I nodded, then looked into the room. Tori and a girl with very long auburn hair were arguing. The girl was about three inches taller than Tori and seemed to be using those inches to her advantage.

"Funny, isn't it? I have always admired Phoebe's antics. She's adorable, but Tobias'd kill me if I tried with his sister." I spun around- Derek growled, startled. A boy with dirty blond hair and blue eyes was there; he was probably two inches shorter than Derek. He was tan and long, leaning against the railing. He seemed completely unfazed by what was going on. He also had a southern drawl, not quite as Texan as Liam's had been, but definitely southern.

"Who are you people?"

"You _people_? That's a rude way to put it." The blond said, yawning. "We came here to help you." He added, scowling. "I said we should just get out, but Phoebe was insistent. And as you can see," he nodded to where the other boy was arguing with the girl and Tori, "that's not something you can ignore."

"Phoebe's nice. Don't be mean to her." A new voice said, this one belonging to a dark haired young girl standing next to the blond. She had hazel eyes and black hair, matched with fair skin. "James is just angry that he didn't get to set the lab on fire."

"Lab?" I asked, almost eagerly. "What lab?"

"The _lab."_ _"James_" stressed, looking at me as if I was stupid. Lauren looked at the little girl, finally managing to say something:

"Ava?" The little girl looked at her, then shrank back, behind James; he noticed Lauren and sneered, drawing himself up to his full height, no longer slouching leisurely.

"Dr. Fellows. How…pleasant to see you here." He bared his teeth; not as threatening as Derek, but it got his message across.

"They're from the Edison Group Lab." I mumbled, looking at Lauren. What could she have done to Ava to make her shrink away like that?

"Yeah; you're Chloe Saunders, right?" the little girl looked at me, and smiled widely. "You're the reason we got to escape. Because Phoebe didn't want to kill you, and Tobias didn't want to let her, because you did so good." She was missing a tooth, I noticed. She must've been really young.

"Are you- part of the Genesis experiment?" Kit asked, looking confused. Lauren swallowed hard.

"Genesis? No, that's you guys." Ava shook her head. James yawned widely.

"Stupid girl. We're the _Icarus_ Project." He grinned then, revealing dimples in his cheeks. It did nothing to make him look any less threatening at the moment. Simon frowned, coming up from behind his father.

"Hey!" The girl with long hair looked over, face snarling. She had fine bones, delicate features, and an excellent snarl. She could've rivaled Derek's, really. She started toward us, dark gray eyes stormy. The other boy- who I assumed was her brother "Tobias" – was right behind her, telling her to calm down first. Things were whipping around the room, and I wondered what kind of…thing she was.

"Phoebe, stop." Her brother appeared in front of her, in her way. To my great surprise, she just plowed through him, ignoring him, eyes focused and intent on us outside the room. Derek started to shift in front of the rest of us. James bounded forward, momentarily distracting this Phoebe girl into stopping. He kissed both of her cheeks, startling her more. She batted him away then.

"Quit it." She snapped, still batting at him. She hit his face, then, and his eyes went stormy, mad. His hands glowed faintly, on her shoulders. She yelped, then really hit him, knocking him back with the force of it. That was surprising. She couldn't have been that much stronger than him- he was definitely bigger than her in more than one sense.

"Get a hold on yourself, James." She spat, rolling her eyes. "You're so immature, losing control all the time." James picked himself up, glowering, but definitely a lot calmer than he was. Tobias grabbed his shirt sleeve and jerked him aside, talking to him. "You." She looked at me now. "You're Chloe Saunders." This time it wasn't a question or her even assuming; she definitely knew me. "You destroyed the lab a while ago, right?" I took a breath, preparing myself to answer. I could deal with bullies like her any time.

"Y-yes." Oops. "But these guys helped. They were keeping us captive."

"Us too." She eyed me skeptically, obviously taking into account my size, or lack thereof. I felt my face twist into a scowl. "Alright. Well we should all talk then. I was supposed to kill you." I blinked.

"Supposed?" I managed through my shock.

"Supposed to, yes; are you slow?"

"Hey, don't talk to her like that." Tori snapped, clearly forgetting that it was her who first called me this so long ago in Lyle House.

"Shut up, it's an honest question when she can't seem to keep up with normal conversation." Phoebe said impatiently. "Obviously you're not; then you should be intelligent enough to know that, yes, I was _supposed_ to kill you, but I don't plan on it now. Not that I wanted to in the first place."

"Fee, you aren't explaining this well." Tobias said, shouldering his way to the middle of the circle we had formed in an effort to not let them have any of our backs. "She was sort of under the control of the people running the lab. The new people running the lab, that is. She didn't have a choice. There was a chip in the back of her neck that was controlling her. There's another one like that somewhere. They're the assassins that were made after you guys destroyed the place. They made them to take out all the failed experiments, you know, clean up their messes." He said, his voice soothing and calm. "They chose Phoebe because of her power and the control she had over it and she hasn't really had a choice to stop herself. But when we heard that she was going after the Genesis two experiments, including you guys, the ones that set the standard for mutiny, we couldn't let her kill you. And trust me," he added when Derek let out a snort, "she could have. Very easily."

"How do we know you aren't-" Simon started, interrupted when Phoebe turned around and moved her hair, showing an open wound on the back of her neck, still bleeding a little, very deep, and unattended.

"That's how. That's where the chip was. Happy?" She asked, peering at the rest of us. "I'm trying to help. If you don't want the help, if you don't want to listen to what we have to say, then forget it and we disappear." I looked at Simon, at Derek and Kit and Tori. Then I looked at Aunt Lauren. She looked pale and unhappy. Kit, Derek, and Simon looked wary and cautious. Tori just looked angry.

"Alright, let's get inside before people come to investigate." Kit said slowly, earning a surprised and non-to-happy glare from Derek. Simon didn't look pleased either.

"Good. Now, about this door…" James said, finally speaking up again. "I think, personally, it'd look _great_ on this wall over here." He pointed near the television. "But it'd also look fine between the beds or in the closet!" Phoebe scowled at him.

"The door will be just fine. I had to get it open, didn't I?" She snapped, closing her eyes. She flicked her wrist and the door settled inside its frame, though it wasn't fixed; it looked normal, though. "We need to move after everything gets explained." She told us. "It's not safe here. So after we're done with this trust circle powwow, we need to move on."

"This is the other room." Kit gestured at the guys' room, and we all trailed in after him. James, I noticed, was always close to the little girl, Ava. Or, maybe it was her sticking next to him, trying to disappear behind him. I couldn't really tell. I sat between Derek and Tori; Simon sat on Derek's other side, and Kit and Lauren stood at the ends of the couch. Their arms were crossed distrustfully, all of our eyes were narrowed and faces pinched.

"Who wants to start?" James asked excitedly. "This is pretty damn awkward." He grinned around at us. Then he sighed. "Alright, I'll start. Hello, my name is James." He waited a moment, then Ava smiled.

"Hello, James."

"Thank you. I'm an _Exustio _half-demon, and also part of the Icarus project. Any questions?" At the silence that met him, he shook his head and sat back, arms crossed now. Tobias stepped up to the plate next.

"I'm Tobias, and I'm an _Abeo _half-demon, which is to say, I can teleport. I'm part of the Icarus project- we all are."

"How far can you teleport?" I asked. James rolled his eyes and muttered, "always the teleport-ers."

"Ahhh…fifty feet, max. I can also teleport vertical _and _horizontal, whereas most teleporters- lower level ones, anyway- can only teleport horizontal." Tobias said, smiling encouragingly at us all. "Anything else?" I shook my head. Ava stepped up.

"I'm Ava, I'm seven." She smiled widely. We waited expectantly, but she didn't go on for a long time. Finally sensing that we were waiting for something, she said, "I'm ALSO in the Icarus project." But that's not what we were waiting for. James coughed lightly, hiding a laugh. Tobias looked very uncomfortable. Phoebe's face was unreadable.

"I'm a _Volo_ half-demon." She shrugged, then. "Our mother wasn't exactly a saint, if you can imagine." I wondered sincerely if she was joking or being serious, but Tobias cracked a smile, so I did, too. Derek looked around at them, eyes narrowed in a calculating manner.

"What about the Icarus project? What- why is it called that? What did they do?" Kit asked. Phoebe's mouth shut with a snap; James turned away. Tobias looked at his feet with an expression on his face like anguish; Ava swallowed hard.

"Sorry, but we aren't ready to talk about that yet." She said briskly. "There are things that you need to know and there are things you want to know. We're willing to tell you all that you need to know about us, but nothing that you don't need, not yet." She took a deep breath to go on, but Derek cut her off.

"Okay. We need to know about your powers." She nodded, a hard expression coming to her face. "You told us about his," he nodded at James, "and his," he nodded at Tobias, "and yours. But what about hers?" He nodded at Ava. Lauren looked very pale, so pale that I wondered if maybe I should stand up and let her sit down for a bit. I asked very quietly what was wrong, but she shook her head in an almost imperceptible movement.

"That doesn't –" James started, a fire in his eyes.

"We need to know what you can do." Tori snapped. James glared at her and she glared right back. "We have to know how to defend ourselves against her." They continued glaring.

"You can't." It was Phoebe who spoke now. "Are you happy? There's almost nothing you can do to defend yourself against Ava." Ava blushed, trying to hide behind James again; it was a useless effort, as everyone's eyes were on her now.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked very quietly, my voice nearly leaving me in my fear.

"Ava's powers are unique. There's no stopping them." Phoebe shrugged. "She can get into your mind and make you see things or hear things or do things. But you don't even know she's there. She can whisper suggestions about what to do or she can just push an illusion on you or a sound that isn't there. You usually can't tell if she's there or not." I felt the blood drain out of my face. She could control _minds?_

We all gazed blankly at the girl, mouths slightly parted. Derek looked furious and even a little scared, if anyone who knew him was looking. Because, really, if there's anything in the world to fear, it's that someone can get into your mind and take control. Phoebe smiled dryly.

"It would suck, having your will taken away, wouldn't it?" She said. I had a feeling- from what was said in the hall- that she knew what it felt like.


	2. Phoebe 3rd

**Here's chapter two! I'm typing this in school. Which I shouldn't be but whatever. I'm really trying to type a lot. Thanks a lot, Anonymous for the review. But I'd prefer if you people would leave a place where I can thank you properly! It's so much more fun to answer reviews individually! Anyway. On with the chapter! And thank you to Lauren96 (?) as well. Thanks for taking a chance with my OC's. Xp**

**Chapter Two- 3****rd ****Person**

_ Phoebe walked forward, barely making any sound, let alone any sound human- or mostly human- ears could pick up. She took out her gun, the gun the Edison Group had given her. She ground her teeth together, but she couldn't stop herself-they had total control. She hadn't had control since four days after Dr. Davidoff was killed. They decided that she was the best one for the job- Tobias was too gentle, James too uncontrolled with his powers. She had the most control and the most ruthless nature when it came to a job. _

_ She pulled the trigger._

_And blood sprayed._

Phoebe sat up straight, looking around in alarm. Tobias was next to her, his arm around her shoulders; she was kneeling next to a tree, hands on her head. She relaxed herself, and then shook her brother off. Chloe Saunders and Derek Souza were fifteen feet from them, watching as James demonstrated his power, lighting things aflame with a simple touch. Leaves, grass, twigs, branches…Phoebe glared. James was so willing to destroy life, any life; he didn't know what she'd seen, how she'd done it…it was horrible. She hated watching him do that, because each of those plants was dying a horrible, flaming death, just like some of her victims. Her unintentional victims, but victims nonetheless.

Kit Bae, Simon Bae, Victoria Enright, and Lauren Fellows were with Ava, sort of. They were sitting in a partial circle, just sort of listening to her talk with wary looks on their faces. They were scared of Ava, like everyone at the lab had been. That's why Ava had never been allowed out of her room. Because they were afraid she'd whisper a suggestion, like "_Forget to lock the door, forget that you let me out," _or "_Kill yourself"_. But she wouldn't do that- she was a normal seven-year-old besides the power and the…experiments. Phoebe shook her head and stood up.

"Tobias? Come on. We have to go explain to them why it is vital that we leave. Now." They hadn't left the hotel yet. They'd just packed up and went outside, waiting patiently- or not, in some cases- for a better explanation as to why they were in danger. Phoebe hated waiting when they were in danger- danger she'd helped along- but they did have a right to know what was going on. Or what had happened.

"Alright, alright. Quit snapping at me." He replied, asserting that big-brother tone that hadn't worked on her since she was eight, but he still used it sometimes, and she still pretended that it worked on her sometimes. Right now it wasn't the time for him to be bossing her around.

"Hey, you guys. Please," she said this while gritting her teeth, "come gather over here."

"She's not really this mean all the time." Tobias said with a pleasant smile. "She's actually a sweet girl. Sometimes." No one but James laughed at his joke. Phoebe resisted the urge to punch him.

"Alright." She said when everyone was in a sort of defensive, split circle: Ava and James beside Phoebe and Tobias; Chloe, Simon, Derek, Victoria, Mr. Bae, and Dr. Fellows on the other side. "Look. They sent me- or were sending me- to kill you guys." She pointed at the teenagers. "But when they notice Ava missing, they'll check on all of us. When they realize I'm no longer doing their bidding, they'll send the other assassin after you- after all of us." She grimaced. "And as I know the other assassin personally, this is not something to take lightly. He's better than me," she admitted grudgingly. "He's better and stronger and a lot more brutal." She focused her eyes on Derek Souza and smiled. "He's like you, only a little different, much more violent. He'd never have let me get this close to his pack without attacking." She paused. "Well, he'd never have let someone he didn't know this close."

"He'd let you get this close to his pack?" James asked teasingly, giving the Victoria girl a light shove. She swung at him, and he ducked, sticking his tongue out. "Or are you…in his pack? Are you…all of his pack? Or does he _looooovvvvveee_ you?" He teased.

"Shut up, James." She snarled. "He can't love anybody right now. Don't you understand that? No, I don't think you do. " She advanced on him. "They have total control over everything he does. The only thing he CAN do without their permission, without them telling him to do it is think, and even that sometimes is easier to do without because of all the things that he's done." Nobody said anything and Phoebe realized they were all listening. James looked pale.

"Sorry, Phoebe."

"Save it. We don't have time." She snapped. "Now, you see that we really have to leave. Any other questions?" She looked around.

"Alright. Where do you suggest we go?" Mr. Bae asked. Phoebe thought maybe he was being sarcastic, asking her, but she raised her chin and answered anyway.

"A little more south, southwest." She shrugged. "Maybe just west." They all looked at each other; Tobias hadn't been expecting this, either.

"Well, ya'll, looks like it's Texas, fer us." James joked, thickening his accent. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, Mr. Bae, it's up to you, really. And it's up to all of you if you let us come. I'll just point out now that if he does come after us- and he will- that we'll be able to help you out a lot." She waited, teeth locked together in some sort of grimace.

"Stop frowning; you'll ruin your pretty face." James teased in a loud whisper. Phoebe punched him, hard, in the face. His head snapped back, then he whipped around to face her again, eyes blazing with the fire that she was sure he was about to use on her. Good. She wanted a fight- _right_ _now_. She'd barely caught his jaw, skimming it with her knuckles, but he hated to be hit, and really, they were all itching for a fight.

"Don't. You. Dare." Tobias growled when James raised an arm. The tone alone made them both pause. Tobias gave Ava a loaded look, and she turned to Phoebe and James.

"You need to calm down," a sweet voice in the back of Phoebe's mind barely breathed. "It's okay to relax and just walk away from the fight…" And Phoebe knew it was smart to listen to Ava's advice, so she did, though throwing a glare at the girl. It wasn't fair when the seven-year-old used her powers. James stalked away.

"You." Phoebe turned to face Tobias. "I don't like that. You don't tell her what to do, especially when it has to do with me-" She cut off at Tobias's look. He was shooting pointed glances over her shoulder. She turned. Mr. Bae and his group were staring at them. Right. Because a show of how temperamental they were probably wouldn't be a good way to win their confidences.

"Please." Phoebe sighed. "I'm not always- okay. I'm stressed and I don't want you guys to die. If I didn't care, I would've obviously killed you guys so that I could keep living. Instead, I put my life on the line- my life, my brother's life, my friends' lives- and came to warn you." She looked at the ground. "It would've been smarter to do that before I killed some of those other people, but I didn't and it's too late now." They were staring, and she knew it, and her face turned red on its own accord. Not that that was hard- her pale skin made her an easy blusher; out of anger, most of the time.

"Alright. We set off." Mr. Bae said slowly. "But I think we should try to get information on the Edison Group again, if it's reopened and doing experiments again."

"It's not- not any new ones and it's having us take out the old ones." Phoebe said. "Actually, I wasn't allowed to go after the Phoenix Project, but…" She trailed off with a shrug. "But I'm sure they would've gotten there. Davidoff is dead, they hired a new guy to get the work done."

**Chloe POV**

We left that motel really quickly, sort of arguing quietly about who would sit near the "new kids". James somehow ended up next to Tori, which I suspected was a bad idea. James was weirdly happy about the set up, but Tori was glaring daggers at everyone else. Tobias sat next to Phoebe, who had immediately taken a window seat. She seemed tense and nervous. I was between Derek and Tobias. Simon was next to Ava, who was on James's other side. Simon, James, Tori, and Ava were in the back row of seats; Derek, Tobias, Phoebe and I were in the middle row, and Lauren and Kit were in the front row. It was a confusing and not entirely comfortable lay out.

"So, you're the famous Chloe Saunders. Everyone talks about you at the lab. They think you're a hero of sorts." Tobias said, smiling. "They all want to meet you. They'd be so jealous right now." He pressed his knee against mine to show me what he meant and I blushed bright red.

"I- I'm n-n-not a hero." I said quickly. "A-a-and b-besides, m-my f-f-friends did m-most of the work."

"But you took out Davidoff. True, he wasn't as ruthless as Jeffers, but he was close, and you got rid of him." His gray eyes were bright, friendly. Derek inserted himself into the conversation then.

"Who's Jeffers?" he asked with narrowed eyes, a light red flush staining his cheekbones. _Jealous? Derek's jealous? Of what?_ I thought, looking at his face confusedly. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Dr. Adrian Jeffers, he took Davidoff's place. He's in his late forties, about 5'10, two hundred pounds, dark hair and eyes, Hispanic, and is one ruthless, mean bastard." Phoebe answered, eyes narrowed. Ava turned around, lips popped open in a shocked "O". "Sorry, Avie." She grimaced, eyes on her knees. And for the first time I noticed what they were all wearing. The two girls were in white tunic shirts with green scrubs. The guys were wearing blue shirts and scrubs. I stared at them for a moment.

"You guys need new clothes." I blurted, the blushed. "Sorry, I'm sorry."

"We do." Tobias said pleasantly. "Considering that we've been wearing these types of clothes for years, though, we don't know what to get."

"You need money first." Derek pointed out, almost rudely. I looked at him in puzzlement, but he still didn't reply, in a look or otherwise.

"We have money." James said, joining the conversation. He grinned wickedly. "Dr. Jeffers is going to be so-o-o unhappy with us when he gets a chance to look in his office. He had a taste for expensive decorations. Paintings, jewelry to display, vases, et cetera." He looked pleased.

"Trust Jamie to know where you can sell those kinds of things in under an hour." Phoebe sighed. I realized she had nicknames for the others in her group, like an affectionate elder sister. It was sort of nice to know she wasn't all angry. She looked at me like she knew what I'd been thinking. I lowered my eyes, cheeks burning.

"So you have money, but where are you going to get your clothes?" Simon asked, turning in his seat so that he was facing us a little. Ava smiled at him from almost below his elbow. He smiled hesitantly back.

"Nearest store, whatever works." Phoebe replied shortly. He looked taken aback. I was too- why was she so short with Simon now? She seemed to have been relaxing. Tobias sighed.

"Yeah, we don't have the luxury of caring what we wear, and besides, if we wear store brand clothes, we'll blend easier than if we wear, ah, certain other name brands." He said, eyes flicking toward me. I scowled. What did that mean? Derek frowned, too, but I suspected that he was looking for a reason to disagree with Tobias. I also had a feeling that those two would never get along.

"How far is far enough, do you think?" Tobias asked, looking at his sister. She sighed heavily, pushing her hair back behind her shoulders.

"I don't know. I really don't. He'll have our-" she stopped, then seemed to force herself to continue. "He'll have our scent trails by now, but I wonder if the car will help any? Plus our scents mixing with these guys will help, probably. And I bet his instincts will overpower his orders when he gets a whiff of the Hulk over there." She jerked her thumb at Derek, but somehow I felt like she meant it in the nicest way possible. Derek's lips twitched, like he was fighting very hard against a smile.

"So…" Tobias was frowning. "You have a plan. You always have a plan. Why aren't you sharing your plan?"

"Why do you assume my plan has to do with you? Why do you assume I have to share my plan?" She shot, elbowing him. "It's not a plan, anyway."

"What is it?" I asked, leaning closer. Tobias raised his eyebrows at me, then at his sister. He elbowed her back.

"Yeah, Fee, what is it?" he asked, snickering. "It's not a plan, so it's got to be something else." She scowled, then started to smile.

"It's not anything, it's me thinking about food, that's what it is." Tobias looked at her for another two beats before James joined the conversation.

"Please. If Phoebe doesn't have a plan, then I'm a woman from New York with hair extensions." He said, rolling his blue eyes. We stared at him.

"See, I told you I don't have a plan!" Phoebe said, then she, her brother, Ava, and even the insulted James burst out laughing. Simon chuckled, too, Derek was smirking into my shoulder and I had to fight giggles, too.

We ended up somewhere on a back road late at night, but I'm not going to put in words the state or city. The hotel was small and cheap and Phoebe insisted on her sharing a room with her friends. Aunt Lauren couldn't complain, as they had always shared a room, but Kit tried to coax them into sharing with us. Phoebe was about as resolute and non-moveable as an old oak tree. She wasn't mean about it either; her response every time was the same:

"We stick together. Sorry. No separation." At times her chin would go up defiantly, or her jaw would tighten against a shout, I'm sure, but otherwise the same thing happened. They won, finally. Then she asked Aunt Lauren to take them to the nearest store that sold clothes and food and other things (i.e. a Wal-mart) and I asked to come with, which entitled Derek to want to go, which made Kit want to go, which brought Simon, and landed us all back in the van. I was next to James this time with Derek on my other side. Tori was in the far back with Phoebe, Tobias, and Simon. Ava was next to James, as per usual.

"When did you guys escape, exactly?" I heard Simon ask. Phoebe seemed determined to give him one word answers, or even better, a nod or head shake, so he kept trying to come up with questions that couldn't be answered with a yes or no.

"This morning." She sighed, turning to face him. "And I need to ask _you_ something now." He nodded slowly, skeptically. "Why is it that I have been giving subtle signals that I do not feel up to talking all day, and yet you keep talking?" He frowned, hurt.

"He's just trying to find a polite way to get to know you guys." I said, loudly, because she was rude.

"Tobias loves to talk. Ask him." Phoebe said, then her eyes shifted to me. The gray went icy. "Unless you want me to specifically answer his questions. Go ahead, Simon. Ask." She turned back to him.

"What- uh." He was a little red in the face now, as was I. "What did you do in the lab?"

"Not much. I was rarely in the lab after you guys did your grand escape. I was always out killing people like you." Her face was cold and remote. Tobias looked distressed.

"Stop talking about it, Fee. Please. Switch places with me, I'll answer their questions."

"No, they should know that I have killed people." She looked around the car, not looking at any one too long. Her eyes stayed on me longer, then shifted to Derek. She seemed to be trying to convey something. Like- she wasn't a threat? A friend; I hoped she was.

Phoebe bought herself neutral colors- tans, whites, blacks, blues. Tobias got the same, but James ended up with all blue jeans and black shirts. Ava was the only one who bought colors. They were done pretty quick, not pausing to consider. They knew their sizes, went in, got their things, and were waiting for us in about fifteen minutes, give or take a few either way. Tori got herself some new clothes, and I got a new pair of shoes. We got dinner there, too. Two birds, one stone.

After I thought that, Ava flinched, tugging at James's sleeve with wide eyes and sort of nodding in my direction. James shook his head and knelt down to explain something to her. I frowned.

"What's wrong?" Derek asked, nudging me. I twisted so that I was angled toward him.

"Nothing. They're sort of strange, I think."

"I don't trust them." He said flatly. I squeezed his hand.

"Of course you don't." I said easily, "But that's just you being protective."

"No, it's me being smart." He said, shifting part way in front of me now. "You heard her in the car; she's killed people before."

"But she was forced! She didn't get a choice."

"That's what they told us. The only proof they had was a cut on the back of Phoebe's neck and-" he halted, tongue literally caught between his teeth. I waited patiently, my eyebrows raised for this other bit of proof. Because I knew what it was; he just wasn't sure how mad I'd be when he said it.

"Yes?" I prompted when he let the silence drag on.

"Well, we don't know if your aunt wasn't brainwashed herself." Derek said bluntly, obviously deciding to soldier on despite my "glare". "We know that the little one can control minds. What if she made Lauren – Dr. Fellows remember the chip or the story that they're spinning? It's a possibility."

"And let me guess? Another possibility is "once a traitor, always a traitor" right?" I snapped, standing up from the bench we were sitting on, waiting for Simon, Tori, Lauren, and Kit to finish.

"No! Chloe, I'm just thinking of all the possibilities!" He snapped, temper flaring to match mine. I felt my jaw trembled and clenched my teeth together.

"I think that they're alright." I finally said.

"And that is because the pretty boy smiled nicely at you." He sneered. I flinched.

"I thought we were past all that, first of all. Second, I can't believe you would-" I cut off, because my lip was trembling and my eyes had filled up. "I thought th-that I'd a-a-already m-m-made it clear that I wanted to be with you." I saw him grimace, clearly regretting his words. I moved away when he tried to reach for my arm.

"Chloe-" He started, but I ignored him, moving over to the possible traitors. Phoebe tilted her head, watching me, then she moved over on her bench to make room for me.

I ignored Derek the whole ride back, though he kept trying to apologize. I went straight to my, Tori, and Lauren's room. Tori followed me after grabbing our dinners from Lauren. She sat next to me at the small table and didn't say a word, just started eating her food. I did, too, but the food was tasteless in my current state.

"Chloe, you know that he didn't mean it." Tori sighed, fed up with my mope-y silence. "I heard him tell Simon what he said." She said with a shrug when I raised an eyebrow. "And it's obvious that he was jealous because Tobias was flirting with you. If anything you should be flattered that he got so jealous."

"But he acted like I was doing something wrong when it was him who shouldn't have been acting like that." I said immediately, ready to defend myself.

"So go tell him that. Stop avoiding him. He looks like a kicked puppy, only more miserable- a tortured, kicked puppy that's been starved." She said thoughtfully, almost a little too thoughtfully (like she was imagining things?).

"Tori," I said flatly. "It's not that bad, one, and two I don't want to talk to him. Okay? If he is really that upset, then he earned it himself." And it was going to be a very long night.

"You're right, he did earn it, but instead of ignoring each other, why don't you talk about it? Hell, why don't you fight it out? You're good at that. But no one wins while you ignore each other. Actually, the rest of us sort of feel like kids in a custody battle." She shrugged. "Mom, go make up with Dad, please. If you don't, I'll feel like it's my fault, and then eventually become a drug addicted prostitute who kills her "customers" because she's bitter." I stared at her.

"Tori…" She was laughing! "You really are a piece of work…" I mumbled, shaking my head and trying not to laugh with her. It wasn't something to laugh about, because things like that did happen, but the flat voice in which she said it was just too much, and the irony of it all made me giggle.

I was woken from a nightmare by a quick rap on the door. I blinked, looking around. Yawning, I got up and peeked through the window. It was Phoebe, shivering in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Frowning, I opened the door.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself, mirroring Phoebe's stance.

"No. There's something we didn't tell you." She said through chattering teeth. "Close the door and meet me in the parking lot, please." She turned and walked away. I paused, staring after her for a moment of confusion, then I went back into the room, put my shoes and a jacket on, and followed her.

"What was it that you didn't tell us?" I shivered, wishing vehemently that she'd hurry up.

"Well it was something big. Something we weren't sure we should tell you. I wasn't sure," she said slowly, deliberately, "that we could really trust you with this secret. Because it's a big one."

"Oh." I said, then waited for a while. I realized she probably still didn't want to say anything, and wouldn't without prompting. "What was it?"

"The scientists got me and my brother from Illinois. They got Ava from her mother in New York- she just gave Ava up, like a badly behaved pet or something. And James is from somewhere down south, but he won't tell us where. Our mother gave us up, too. Anyway." She stopped to take a breath. "When they took us, they did things to us. They did all sorts of things to us, pretty much to see what they could do, to test their limits."

"Okay." I said with a nod. She stared at me.

"Are you awake, Chloe? Did you hear me?" She was still staring.

"I heard you. You said…" I trailed off as what she said sunk it. "They…did things. To you guys; they experimented?"

"Yes, they did. They tried all sorts of things, calling us and a few others part of Project Icarus. Which you knew that part."

"Others?"

"They died in the experiments." Her voice had gone flat. The wind blew around her, whipping her dark auburn hair around her pale face. "They died, but we didn't. There were at least six others."

"They all died?"

"Not at the same time, no. They died off eventually, when the experiments didn't go well. They died painful deaths, sure, but I sometimes wish that it would've been us to die, because the latest experiments were only for the survivors and they were horrible." Now she shuddered, going slightly green in the face. I reached for her arm instinctively, but she pulled back.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, blinking dumbly.

"Because I need to show you something." She opened her mouth to say something, but a noise- someone stumbling? - cut her off. She looked around, nodded, and then looked back at the road. It was empty. "Okay, I need you to-"

"Chloe!" The harsh whisper startled both of us: Phoebe flinched like she was expecting to be hit. I jumped and yelped. Derek's dark form got closer and closer until he was visible. "What the hell are you two doing out here?" In my sleepy state, I forgot we were still fighting and reached for his hand.

"She wanted to show me something." I said, looking up at him imploringly. He hesitated, then turned to Phoebe, planting his feet.

"Fine. Then you can show the both of us." He said firmly, watching her. She swallowed and nodded, taking a huge pocket knife out of the waist band of her shorts.

"Cut two slits in the back of my shirt." She instructed. "Vertical, under the shoulder blades." She handed me the knife. Carefully, I opened it, taking care not to aim it at myself as Phoebe turned around. I was alarmed when I saw how sharp the knife was; it cut through her shirt like butter, but when I saw- in the dim light provided by street lamps close by- a line on her back, I yelped.

"Oh, Phoebe- I'm sorry, I didn't think I pressed that hard!"

"You didn't do that. It's been there for a while." She said in a blank voice.

"Oh." I whispered, figuring it was a scar as I cut another vertical slit in the thin fabric. There was another scar, exactly parallel to the other one, on this side. She turned, thanked me, and took the knife from me carefully. Then Tobias appeared, quite suddenly, beside her, gripping her shoulder.

"What are you doing, Phoebe?"

"Be quiet. I have to show them. It's okay, we can trust them." Now more awake, I glanced smugly and angrily at Derek. He didn't look at me. "Just go back inside. I can take care of this. Please."

"Fee, I can't let you do this. Not yet. They aren't…"

"Yes they are." He looked furious, but she coaxed him to go away eventually.

"What is this about?" Derek asked finally.

"We aren't human." She told us. He sighed heavily.

"Yes, we know that, neither are we." He said it in that patiently impatient tone that told how irritated he was. Phoebe waved her hand impatiently, throwing leaves and dust up in the air.

"This is nothing; let's just say you guys are much, much more human than we are."

"I doubt that."

"Even you're more human than me, Derek Souza, werewolf or not." She grinned recklessly. "You guys may be stronger than what people of your type usually are, but at least there are others like you. There are other _Volo_ demons and _Abeo_ demons and all that, but there's no one like us."

"You've lost me." I confessed. Phoebe threw her hands up. The leaves and sticks whipped round dangerously, but didn't come near Derek or me. She took a breath, dropped her hands, and stared for a moment.

"I don't know how to tell you this. I think I'll just show you…" She took another breath, and then moved her shoulders a little, like she was loosening them. Movement from behind her caused me to flinch, but Derek's body tensed in shock and disbelief. Slowly, huge 15-feet-long, gray-and-white wings extended from behind her. She held her chin up high as they stretched. I could see the feathers twitch, aligning themselves. I swallowed hard.

"_**Oh, God."**_

**Assuming that wasn't crap, please review! I know this one has taken long to update, and I'm sorry, it's just that I'm at school when I type it and have to be "sneaky". XP So I hope you like it. Please review! Crap/not crap? **


	3. Action, finally

**Here's chapter 3! Going to be working on this for just as long as I was for chapter 2! Jeeze….Okay. I hope you like it! And any new characters that may or may not come in! Also- I hope everyone is okay with …well, never mind. You'll see, and if you're not okay with it, I hope you tell me, but I doubt it'll make any difference except that I'll TRY to fix the problem in chapter FOUR. Also, please leave comments about action- do you want more/less/keep it the same…I love fights, and blood and romance, usually in the same scenes, because it's sexy. XD **

**Chapter 3**

**Chloe POV**

I have to admit, when I saw those wings behind Phoebe, my brain immediately wanted to think that something was behind her, not that they were attached to her. I stared, gaping, for longer after I gasped my curses. Phoebe stood there patiently, face blank. Tobias appeared, now, shaking his head at her.

"Phoebe, I told you they weren't ready to see this!" He hissed. He took her arm, but she held her ground, muscles standing out against ivory skin.

"That's- there's- what's—" I couldn't form a coherent sentence, and turned to face Derek. He'd have something, anything. His face was white, eyes huge. And that is what scared me more than any life altering experiments in front of me. "Derek?" I asked softly, peering up at him.

"Do you all have…them?" he asked hoarsely. Phoebe nodded. Tobias sighed heavily and shook his shoulders like Phoebe had a moment ago, extending wings about a foot or two longer than Phoebe's, and his were mink brown, warmer than Phoebe's stormy colors. He had to step back from her or else their wings would've collided and tangled.

"Yes, we do." Phoebe replied. "Ava's are black, and probably five, six feet long; James's are a mix of white, brown, red, and black, probably eighteen feet long. He's so proud of that, too." She rolled her eyes. I felt this strange spinning and whirling sensation, and I could hear something sort of raspy in my ears. I realized vaguely, and with a sense of something almost like amusement, that I was hyperventilating. Derek grabbed for me, but he was a moment too slow, and I landed hard on the pavement, looking up at all of them confusedly. Phoebe pulled her wings in quickly, and Tobias followed in suit. Derek knelt beside me, sat me up, and put my head between my knees.

"Better?" he asked after a couple minutes of that. I nodded and sat back, trying to make sure the trees and their faces stayed where they should have. They did.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just…it shocked me."

"I know." Tobias said sympathetically. He started to lift his hand to my shoulder, then stopped, grimacing. "It's hard to take in right away." I nodded, noticing how stiff and tense Derek was beside me, his fingers rigid, but not tight, on my arm. Tobias looked over at him, then, and sighed again.

"Chloe," Phoebe said in a deliberate voice, "why don't you go get Dr. Fellows? Or wake everyone up. I'm sure they'd like to know about this. Unless you'd rather wait until morning." Something in her tone, or on her face, some expression or something told me that at this point, she was terrified, and told me that if I didn't have everyone around, everyone possible to stop her, she'd take her friends, her family, and run. I nodded and stood.

"Okay, I'll go wake Lauren and Mr. Bae up." I said, wobbling for a moment, then heading for the hotel. When I was a short distance away, I turned to look at them again. Phoebe elbowed her brother.

"Right." He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry if it appeared that I was flirting with Chloe. I'd like to point out that I act that way to everyone." He looked painfully embarrassed; Phoebe stepped on his foot as another signal. He snarled something rather viciously. She stared up at him blandly. "And I'd also like to let you know that I'll keep my distance."

"He means that he's one of those touchy-feely people that can't help but pat or hug or squeeze, but not inappropriately. He gets away with it because he's charismatic." Phoebe scoffed. "People like him. Plus, he's not into blonds." She snorted a laugh. Derek looked uncomfortable too.

"Ah, right. Okay." He mumbled, not looking at them. I turned, feeling dazed, and went to our room to get Lauren.

She was confused at first, then her voice woke Tori up. I went to wake Kit, who woke Simon. We gathered in Phoebe's room, where she woke James, who, after snarking some awful swear words at her, woke Ava with the gentle words that a parent would have. The dark haired girl woke up much more graciously than James, who sat her on his lap on the couch to watch.

"So what is it that needs to be said at two-fucking-thirty in the morning?" Tori grouched, rubbing her eyes and scowling. James smiled sincerely.

"You're so pleasant to be around." He said, then looked at Phoebe seriously. "What _is_ so important, Phoebe?"

"Our wings."

That didn't go over well. James set Ava aside to start yelling. Tobias started yelling at him for yelling at his sister. Ava covered her ears. Simon, Kit, and Lauren gaped. Tori stared. Phoebe put two of her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly, making everyone wince.

"Shut UP!" She snapped. "I showed them and I wanted them to know. You two," she pointed at Tobias and James, "stop shouting! Sit down, now." Her voice was vicious. "Ava, stop cowering, you've heard James yell before." She scowled, and Ava sat up, though she did look very upset. "Simon, Kit, Lauren, sit down!" She pointed violently at the beds, and they all sat. "Tori, stop staring like that." She rolled her eyes, then closed them, shaking her shoulders loose again. And sort of extended her wings. They were too big for the room, and almost took out a lamp. Simon's jaw dropped; Kit put his head in his hands. Lauren didn't look too entirely surprised and Tori was gaping as attractively as Simon was.

"They did it. They've been there since before we were born, but we didn't know they were there until a few years ago, when they collected us from our homes. Our parents volunteered for the experiment, even though it wasn't really their lives that they were playing with." Tobias explained, his face going dark with resentment as he spoke of their parents. "And our bodies are different than yours. Our bones are lighter and they're hollow. We're stronger than we look and our senses are pretty damn good, too. I don't think our noses are anything compared to yours," he nodded at Derek, "but our eye sight is probably better than yours and our hearing, too."

"Wait, that's not possible." Lauren said, shaking her head. "Can you even fly with those?" James sighed heavily in exasperation.

"Yes, we can fly with these, duh. He just told you that our bones are lighter and they're hollow." He rolled his eyes. "Haven't you been listening?"

"Recombinants?" Kit said very quietly. "Successful recombinants?" He was looking at the four of them wonder and slight horror on his face. Phoebe gave Tobias and James both a look that told them to basically shut up and sit down again.

"Yes. They did this while our mothers were pregnant with us. The wings were in our backs. I can show you." She pulled the wings in, turned around, slipped the torn tank top off, and held it to her chest while she sat on the edge of the bed. "You can look, Dr. Fellows. I know they didn't allow you to get close enough to study us." She paused for a moment. "Much." I looked over at Simon, who looked like someone had just punched him in the gut as he stared at his father. Lauren got up and, while we all watched, prodded the slits in the skin of Phoebe's back. They weren't noticeable; they could've passed for old scars. Lauren slid the tips of her fingers along the slits, then pressed a little inward. She jumped.

"Feathers." She gasped, "There are feathers."

"No disrespect, _Dr._ Fellows," Tobias said in a voice I'd yet to hear from him, "but you just saw her wings. That had feathers. What did you expect? Plastic? Bone? There _is_ bone, too. The wings fold along our spines."

"It used to hurt, to spread them, because they had to cut slits in our skin, but after it healed and the slits stayed, it didn't hurt any more. Now it feels nice, to have them stretched out." Phoebe said in a carefully blank voice. Ava got up and spread her wings out. They were as black as her hair, probably twice the length of her body. They fit in the room, but just barely.

"See?" she asked, looking around at all of us. She looked near tears. James tugged her down beside him and she pulled her wings in.

"Wait." I said, loudly enough to startle everyone and myself. I held up a finger to emphasize my point. "Wait a second. Did you say that you could fly with those?" I thought for a moment that maybe I'd faint again, because the room was sort of doing a spin, but Derek kept his hand on my arm, holding me steady.

"Yes, we can fly. Why is that so difficult?" Phoebe asked curiously. "You're standing next to a boy who can change into a wolf. Who runs and moves like a predator. You are a girl who can speak to the deceased, a girl who can _raise_ the deceased." She shook her head. "Flying children startle you?"

"Well…I was getting used to the idea of, well, us. But…I thought I knew all the categories and subcategories and I thought I knew them all."

"There's no one else like us. There's no one else to get used to. Well…" she hesitated, then stiffened her jaw. "Well, besides Zane." She frowned deeply. "He's part of the Project, as well." She shrugged, not looking any of us in the eye.

"Alright." Derek said slowly, so that everyone looked at him now. "We need to do something. We can't just sit here."

"Why? It's safe here." Simon said, shaking himself out a little. He'd been staring at his father in shock and disbelief.

"You're kidding, right? They're going to want them back, badly. They're the first successful, intelligent genetic recombinants in the history of…anything, really." Derek said, with a short, harsh laugh. "They're going to do anything to get them back. Isn't that right, Phoebe?" he asked, looking at her dead in the eye. I was surprised when she nodded, not looking away.

"He's right. We shouldn't stay in any place too long, just in case." She said, sighing heavily.

"But we're okay tonight, here, right?" Kit asked. "Just for tonight?"

"I guess." Phoebe mumbled.

"I think we should be. We just got here hours ago. We can move further in the morning when we're rested and not tired." I said, looking around the room for agreements. To my surprise, James nodded right away; Ava did too, her red ringed hazel eyes wide and glassy. Phoebe nudged Tobias, who nodded.

"That's a good plan." Phoebe said slowly. "But after? Where do we go tomorrow?"

"Same way we planned on going." Kit decided. "We'll do the same thing. No reason for the plan to change much." I caught Derek giving him a hard look and wondered what Kit would do, should Derek ever vehemently disagree with what he was saying, to the point where he refused to go along with the plan. I tried not to think about it, but the scene was working its way into my imagination, a sort of stand-off; I felt myself drift from the conversation…

_Derek telling Kit that he was making a wrong decision._

_Kit telling Derek that he was still a child and that Kit made the final decision. _

_Simon looking between the two of them, eyes wide. _

_Derek deciding that he was going his own way. _

_Kit and Derek both demanding that we choose sides._

_Simon still looking between them, alarmed._

_I go to Derek's side, eyes cast down, not looking at my other friends and family._

_Phoebe saying that Derek's was the only logical plan; her friends follow easily._

_Tori follows me. _

_Simon stays with his father and Lauren._

"Chloe?" I felt a hand shake my shoulder. Derek was looking at me in concern, as if I'd been spaced out for a long time. And I realized that I had been, when I looked around. Simon and Kit were at the door, behind them Tori and Lauren, ready to go to their rooms to go back to sleep. Phoebe was tucking Ava into the bed near the bathroom and the wall; Tobias was already sitting on the bed near the window. I saw blankets on the couch and wondered where James slept- Phoebe's shoes were in front of the couch.

"Sorry; I was thinking about something."

"It's alright. We decided," he worked his jaw, like he was chewing back a few words he'd like to say, "that we're going to stay for the night. Then we'll be moving on in the morning. We'll have to get breakfast on the road." I nodded.

"Okay." I murmured. "Um." I looked up at him for a moment. He stared at me almost blankly, except that his eyes were questioning. I realized he was wondering if we were still fighting, where as I was looking at his mouth, which was very close to mine, because he was leaning down. I took a shaky breath and said, "Um," again. His brows furrowed and he moved closer, opening his mouth to say something, but I leaned forward to, just to shut him up.

"Aw!" I heard Ava coo, then start to giggle. I pulled back abruptly and walked toward the door. Lauren was glaring daggers at Derek, who had not moved except to straighten up. His shoulders were bunched tight, and I had to wonder what he was so angry about. I had walked away angry…right?

As I walked back to my room with Lauren and Tori, I started to get a little angrier as I thought of the possibility of _Derek_ walking away from our fight as furious as I had been, filled with the idiot, self-righteous thoughts that _he_ had been wronged in that argument.

"Hey, Chloe?" Derek was standing behind us. I glowered at him, but waited while everyone else went ahead to their rooms. He did look a little surprised that I was glowering- he must've thought the fight was over.

"What?" I asked, trying not to snap.

"I, um, wanted to say goodnight." He mumbled, instantly melting away any icy anger I may have harbored. Of course.

"Goodnight." I said softly. He hesitated, then put his hand on my waist and kissed me gently. I smiled at him, then moved to my room.

"Chloe? I am…sorry; you know that, right? I was…" I turned to see him with his fists clenched and his eyes lowered. "I was a little jealous…mostly because I think- I thought you'd prefer to be with a normal supernatural…"

"And Tobias, the winged wonder-boy who can teleport is the epitome of normal." I said, slapping my forehead. "Of course; I should've seen it before this." He started to scowl at the same time he started to laugh. "Really, Derek, you can't just assume that every time a guy talks to me that I'm going to walk away from you." I stopped myself before I could say something stupid.

"Okay. I'm sorry." He said, looking at me through his lashes. I watched him for a few minutes before murmuring another good night and going into the room to sleep.

**Phoebe 3****rd**** person**

It had been absolutely terrifying to show them her wings two nights ago. Phoebe was sure she was going to pass out at that moment. But she didn't, and now they were in a new hotel, further south. It wasn't any warmer, despite popular belief that it would be. Simon wouldn't stop staring at her. She felt weird whenever he did, like an animal on display at the zoo. Tobias was starting to notice, too, and he didn't seem to like it. James made joking comments about Zane and pretended not to notice the tension whenever Dr. Fellows and Mr. Bae were in the same room as each other- they seemed furious at each other.

"Phoebe?" Chloe asked, touching Phoebe's shoulder. She jumped.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked politely, blinking out of her daze. She realized that they were in a fast food drive through line.

"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Chloe asked, tilting her head a little.

"Just…" She took a breath- _they already know_, she reminded herself. _They already know how much you eat and all that, so calm down._ "Three burgers, everything on them; two fries, and-ooh- a milkshake." She saw from the grins on Ava, Tobias, and James's faces that they had ordered about the same things. The boys ate a little more, she knew, than her and Ava. "Don't worry, we'll help pay." She passed up money to Mr. Bae, who took it, mumbling something.

"Are you alright, Phoebe?" Chloe's voice was quiet, but Phoebe heard it perfectly, just like she knew the rest of her friends could, just like Derek could.

"I'm fine. Thank you for asking, but I'm okay. I just…got distracted." She replied, turning back to the window. Tobias nudged her gently, only telling her he was there. Simon's eyes were on her again.

She hoped she hadn't made the wrong choice. It had been a long time since she had trusted any one, and if these people betrayed her trust…she'd just die. Maybe literally.

**Chloe 1****st**** person**

Something was wrong with Phoebe, but no one bothered her. I felt bad- I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but every time I did she just shrugged me off. When we got back to the hotel in the middle of the night, I saw Tobias stop her and say something. Her face brightened and she replied with something- I'm not sure what. He nodded and caught up to James and Ava, relaying the message. Simon was watching them, as he had been usually. I waved Derek away and went by Simon.

"What's wrong with you lately? You know it's irritating her to stare like that, right?" I asked quietly as Tori went by. She was frowning- everyone seemed to be frowning lately. Lauren and Kit especially. Simon moved his shoulders, trying to brush me off, I think, then he turned to me with wide, sad eyes.

"I don't mean to irritate her. I just… it's weird, don't you think? I want to see her wings again. They're beautiful… I like her a lot, but she keeps brushing me off, like she doesn't give a damn, which is sort of probably why I like her, in a way." He spoke quickly. He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. "I really want to see them fly. Don't you?"

I chose my words carefully. "I don't think I do, actually. I think that's something they should decide whether they want to share with us. And I think Phoebe does give a damn, but you're probably making her nervous. Back off a little, Simon, give her space, don't stare like you've been hit over the head by something heavy." He started to smile.

"Pretend I don't care, either?"

"Not that, either. I think you should care, but talk to her. Don't try to get her to talk to you. Phoebe seems like a really private person, you know? She's not going to talk to you if she doesn't trust or know you, first."

"Thanks…" he still looked troubled. "I think I'm going to take a walk. Could you tell my dad?"

"Sure," I replied, frowning as he left.

I went inside and told Kit where Simon was, then sat next to Derek to snack. When we were all about finished eating, the door flew open, Simon breathing heavily, red faced. Kit jumped up.

"What's the matter?" he asked at the same time Phoebe and Tobias ran in.

"We need to leave, right now! Hurry up!" Phoebe snapped orders like a drill sergeant, barking at us to get our things up and move, move, move. James and Ava already had their things together and Phoebe and Tobias were done in half the time it took Tori to pack her things up.

"What's going on?" Lauren demanded as all of our things were being loaded into the car. I felt slightly dazed- had we really packed that quickly? I guess, Phoebe was really panicked.

"Phoebe is nothing if not efficient." Tobias said, his eyes hard as he gazed at the tree line. "Son of a-" he cut himself off, turning sharply to his sister. "It's Jeff, Emma, Keith, and Dory." She started swearing, then turned to us.

"Jeff has brown hair and eyes, he's an _Aduro_ half-demon, meaning he's a weaker type of fire demon. Emma, blond hair brown eyes, _Agito._ Keith, red hair, green eyes, _Migro,_ he's telekinetic half demon, too, both of them weaker than me. Dory has red hair and blue eyes, she's an _Evanidus_ half-demon. She can only teleport about ten feet." She explained very quickly. "They may have weapons but they like to fight hand to hand." She smiled now. "And I'm sort of looking forward to that."

"What are you talking about? We have time to leave, don't we?" Lauren gasped.

"No. Besides me, they're Jeffers lackeys. They're pretty good." Phoebe's smile stretched wider. "But I'm better." James nodded, and even Ava looked especially pleased. Tobias looked grim and determined. And then, out of nowhere, all of the new kids dropped to the ground, dragging anyone near them with them. Shots rang out, making me gasp as Phoebe gripped my wrist tight from where she'd pulled me and Derek down. James had grabbed Simon, Tori, and Kit, and Tobias had gotten Lauren down. James was swearing.

"Come on out, little birdies, and there won't be any more shots!" A male voice called.

"How about drop your weapons and we'll fight like men!" James called, laughing.

"We see you, Mr. Bae, Dr. Fellows. Send us the recombinants, and we won't shoot your children." A woman called.

"Shut-up, Emma!" Phoebe crowed. Then she glanced at Kit and Lauren, her face going pale. "If you want us to leave, say it, but don't try to send us to them; we aren't going back. Not ever." She raised her voice, "You know no one can get close to forcing us to do anything. We wouldn't go without a fight, and you know this group wouldn't have a chance against all four of us." There was a silence in the woods.

"Phoebe, don't be unreasonable. We know someone that can force your hand." I saw Phoebe's lips tremble.

"Zane…" She mouthed, then her eyes steeled over. "I don't plan on handing my family over for one guy."

"We'll make a deal- we won't kill him, and you and Ava come with us."

"Screw you!" James snarled loudly, wrapping an arm around Ava. Phoebe, however, looked speculative.

"How about just me?" She called. Tobias looked at her, pain and upset deep in his eyes. I had the overwhelming desire to sigh in exasperation; I seem to surround myself with people either way too self sacrificing (Derek and, so it appears, Phoebe) or people slightly more than normally self-centered (Tori, at times). Why can't I just meet some normal people who worry about themselves and other people an appropriate amount? But I knew that was inappropriate for the situation.

"I'm sorry, Phoebe." They emerged from the woods. "We can't do that. We'll just have to take you by force." Phoebe stood up, hands on her hips, a sadistic, slightly twisted smile on her lips.

"Come and get us." She smirked. "But drop your weapons, first. We fight, then we fight hand-to-hand." She turned to us. "You guys stay here. Ava, stay; James, come on. Let her go, you know we'd never give her over." She petted James's hair, making him scowl, though he didn't push her away until he stood up.

"Time's ticking, birdies!" The red-haired female shouted, tapping her wrist. Tobias scowled toward them, then the three of the older ones started to run.

"Stay!" Phoebe shouted when Derek started after them. "We've danced with them before, we know the steps. You'll only mess us up!" Glowering, he eased back. I was selfish enough with him to be glad of that.

To my surprise, the enemies threw all weapons off to the side. They faced off, circling each other. The brunette man called that the rules were no weapons, then there were also no wings allowed. Phoebe called an agreement.

That's when the fight began. My jaw dropped, and I couldn't keep track if I tried watching them all at once. I tried to find Phoebe, because she'd looked to be enjoying herself. Tobias squared off with the telekinetic male, Keith (I think that was his name…); James went for the other guy, Jeff- fire and fire, perfect… Phoebe took on both females, which had Ava whining in protest, but Aunt Lauren had her arms tightly around the skinny little girl.

"Phoebe said to watch and learn," she said grimly. "In her head." Phoebe shot a grin over her shoulder, narrowly avoiding a fist to the mouth. She snapped a foot out in a hard kick right to Emma's throat. The woman went down coughing. She turned to face…Dory? …and they _really_ started fighting. Punches, kicks, grunts, shrieks. It was vaguely alarming, actually.

"Simon, watch Phoebe." Kit said suddenly, sounding almost like he was laughing. "This is why I said that it's useless to try to sweep someone's feet from under them." We all looked at Phoebe just in time for Dory to crouch and sweep her leg under Phoebe's; she jumped just in time, and, right when Dory's leg was under her, stomped a boot down hard on her knee. I heard the crack, and the scream from here. Simon's mouth fell open. Dory reached for Phoebe, who skidded back, heading for the now standing Emma.

I couldn't look, because I heard more bones snapping. I looked at Tobias, who was in a –it looked like a—well, Tobias was teleporting while the guy used his weak telekinesis to swing things after him, except they were fighting, hitting each other, hard blows that either bled or crunched on contact. James was holding Jeff's throat, his hands glowing faintly. The man bucked once, twice, before his eyes rolled back and he went limp. James stood, watching Tobias for a moment, studying, before leaping at Keith. They fell to the ground, struggling. Keith teleported onto James's back, pinning his arms.

Tobias kicked from behind Keith, tanker boot connecting with a skull. There was a crunch that made me and Tobias wince. Keith fell to the ground. I heard a swear word from Phoebe and we all turned to see Emma scrambling for her gun.

"No!" Tobias snapped, but the gun was pointed at Phoebe already. Her chin jerked up defiantly.

"Don't move. Tobias, James, come here." They started walking over, dragging their feet to show Emma that she couldn't boss them around. My heart was shuddering in my chest, pounding against my ribs painfully. Phoebe's hands were clenched by her side.

"Oh, no…" Derek mumbled under his breath. I followed his gaze back to Phoebe's hands just in time for her to flick a wrist, causing the gun to fly into her hands. She kicked Emma hard under the chin, knocking her flat on her back. She crouched and pointed the gun in her face.

"Take your wounded and leave." She snapped. "Or else I'll lower myself to your standards and shoot your asses." She backed away, still holding the gun. Had she ever shot a gun before? Did she know how to use it? I could tell from the way she kept her eyes locked on Emma as she roused the guys to carry Dory- who was still wailing in agony, clutching her injured knee- that yes, Phoebe had shot a gun before. Probably many times.

"We need to leave." Tobias said, suddenly appearing right beside us. I jumped, yelping. "Sorry. But they aren't finished with us. They'll send someone else. We need to go." He was speaking quickly and I saw his hands shaking.

"Toby doesn't like fighting," Ava said softly. "Even though he's good at it. He doesn't like when Phoebe fights, either," she added. James and Phoebe walked toward us; well, Phoebe was walking- backward. James came loping up, his eyes bright with what I could only interpret as lust, locked on Tori with determination. When he neared her, she grabbed him around the neck and pulled him toward her. We all stared, shocked, as they kissed quite passionately.

Kit's face grew irritated, then angry, then he covered both with impatience as he sighed and cleared his throat pointedly. Finally he walked over and physically pried them apart.

"It's time to move, we don't have time for that." He snapped, giving James a glare that could frighten small children. I pressed my lips together as James gave a lazy grin, licking his already wet lips. Tori rolled her eyes, backing away from him, but he reached for her, wrapping a long, tan, scratched up arm around her.

"Aw, sugar, don't be like that. I feel used." She gave him a look to kill, more scalding than even Kit's. He saw and relaxed a little, hustling us in the car.

We circled for a while, trying to find a hotel. By nightfall, we had one, out of the state. I was getting whiplash, we were moving so much. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I was tired. Lauren made us all eat together. James sat pointedly between Tori and Ava. Tori didn't look at him, but she didn't order him away from her either, not even when he pressed his shoulder against hers. Derek muttered something about her dinner- salad or something as filling- and she looked at him with a glare.

"Unlike you, I can't eat twice my weight in pure meat, wolf boy." James burst out laughing, kissing her cheek, which surprised her.

"You're adorable; you've got claws," he gasped in laughter. "I think I'm in love." Phoebe made a face.

"Come on, James, Toby, Ava. Let's go to our room." She stood up, waiting for them to follow. James ducked down, pecked Tori on the mouth, and ran for the door before she could hit him. I frowned after they were gone, wondering why and what they were doing.

"Probably wanted privacy." Derek mumbled, though I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or Simon, who looked put out. He was acting so strange lately. He'd gotten used to the idea of me and Derek being together, but now that Phoebe had come along, he was, well, he was acting like everyone else: morbid, quiet, frowning all the time. And of course the staring; if I read Phoebe well, and I think I did, I had a feeling she was probably going to do something about the staring very soon.

It wasn't like Simon was staring creepily- more like he was trying to figure her out, and trying to figure something else out, too. Maybe trying to figure how to talk to her? I don't know how to explain what was going on there; Phoebe didn't seem to like him much- then again, Phoebe didn't seem to like any one much, though I felt like maybe she was lightening up to us.

After eating, I noticed Phoebe, Tobias, James, and Ava leaving their room. They weren't wearing jackets, even though it was cold outside. I nudged Derek, who got up and followed me outside. We watched, from a distance, as, one by one, they climbed up on the rail and pushed off. Phoebe stood last, hands on her hips, watching protectively as they pushed off. James's wings were, in fact, as many colors as Phoebe had described. She went last, pushing off and pumping her wings impressively. I stood gaping.

The four of them swooped and dived and twirled around each other, laughing in giddy tones. I watched with an open mouth, starting to smile. It was breathtaking- amazing, like watching Derek run as a wolf. To be a part of nature like that… Derek felt the world like we never could and Phoebe could experience the sky in a way that humans would never be able to. Derek wound his arm around my waist, pulling me closer, eyes locked on the bird kids. I turned toward him and pulled his face toward mine, tilting my chin back. He took a slow, slightly shaking breath and pressed his lips to mine, shuddering slightly; I felt my skin tighten with goosebumps, my hands sliding around his neck. He tilted his head, tongue lightly touching my lips, a question that I answered by opening my mouth a little.

**Phoebe 3****rd**

She saw Derek and Chloe come outside, but she didn't say anything about or to them. She saw them start to kiss. She saw Simon sneak outside to the parking lot to watch, head tilted a little, chin back to get a better look. She was still giddy from the adrenaline of fighting, the flight she was taking with her friends- her family. It irritated her to see him watching again.

Phoebe landed unsteadily, shaking her wings out and pulling them in, then started toward Simon, still panting. He looked surprised, then guilty, opening his mouth to apologize, no doubt. She ignored him, fisting her hands in his shirt fronts, yanking him down to her level, and kissing him firmly on the mouth. He gasped in surprise, then pressed closer, tilting his head. She responded, then realized she hadn't proved her point yet.

"There!" She panted, pulling back. Both of their chests were heaving. "See? It's _nothing._ So you can quit bothering me now!" They were both panting and flushed, staring at each other for a moment. Then Phoebe turned on her heel to walk away.

"One helluva nothing." He muttered behind her. She was so angry at him, but she still couldn't quite stifle the grin or the laugh. That irritated her more.

"Where are you going?" Tobias called quietly from the sky. She shook her head, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes.

"I'm going to the room. Be back inside in an hour, got it?" She didn't wait for a response as she went into the room to think about the Simon boy and how she was going to deal with these new feelings.

**? POV**

_Watching with burning jealousy as Phoebe kisses the Bae boy. Fists clenched, jaw tight, eyes narrow, teeth bared. Then the ControlChip tingles and he relaxes, emotions reducing to fondness and irritation. His job was to kill both Bae's, Souza, Saunders, Enright, Fellows…and Peterson; Ava. To capture Watson (the male Watson, Tobias) and Montgomery (James). P. Watson to be killed. Easy mission to complete, done tones before this, more than even precious Phoebe. _

_ Precious? Thoughts flicker with doubt and pain before the ControlChip tingles again, stronger this time, and his emotions shut down completely. _

**Kind of obvious who ? is but I'd rather just pretend it was mysterious. Hope you liked it. Please review. This one is the longest chapter by far, I think. About 6,011 words. 0.0 **


	4. The Plot FINALLY Thickens

**Literally started typing this the moment I finished chapter 3. Go me. Ha-ha. I'm not seeing any new reviews and that made me a little sad. Oh well. I'm spoiled when it comes to reviews, actually. I'd just like a review to tell me that you're reading and you're liking what you're reading. Other than that I don't care. Even though it's nice to get a long review – everyone loves long reviews right? **

**This probably going to be the shortest chapter…because the plot is coming into play here, a little bit.**

**Chapter 4**

**Chloe 1****st**

"Chloe?" I blinked awake, spotting Ava. I yawned and sat up. "Chloe, can you help me with something?" It was still night outside.

"Sure, what's wrong?" I asked quietly, rubbing at my eyes. I shivered; the room was freezing.

"Phoebe's hurt."

"What?" I asked in alarm, swinging my legs off the bed. She pressed a little hand to my shoulder.

"She got hurt in the fight earlier, but she didn't want to tell anyone. I just thought maybe you could help." Her eyes were filled with tears, and I could help myself- I hugged her.

"Alright, shh, come on. Take me to Phoebe. She's in your room, right?" Ava nodded.

"She's with James. James started to yell at her because –he said because she was stupid and then she…" Her lip trembled.

"Okay, we'll see when we get in there." I assured, taking her hand and slipping my feet into my shoes. I didn't know how bad the wound was and I guess I should've woken Lauren, but it didn't cross my mind yet.

James seemed to have lost any tan he might've had- he was pale as a sheet when he opened the door. His eyes were midnight blue now and bloodshot.

"I didn't know it was that bad- I really didn't mean to…" he let me in, wringing his hands. Tobias was dead asleep on the bed by the wall, and Phoebe, paler than anyone I'd ever seen –including some ghosts, which means it was bad –was on the couch, blood blooming on the white tank top she wore with boxers.

"Where's the wound, and how deep is it?" I asked, looking at James. Ava tugged his hand.

"The wound is on her hip, I think. Emma- the bitch- she had a knife. I didn't see it…" James bit his lip, looking at Phoebe's slack and peaceful face.

"I don't think…I'm going to get Aunt Lauren." I said quickly, backing up. I swallowed. Then the handle of the door snapped and the door swung open, revealing Derek and Simon.

"I smelled blood." Derek said slowly, frowning at me. "What's going on? It's- a lot of blood. Fresh blood." His eyes focused on Phoebe and he swore softly. "I'll go get-" I pushed at him.

"No, you need to go back to your room. I'm going to get my aunt, you're going to wait until I go to "get you" if it comes to that. She'll probably need a few stitches…" I tried not to sound shaky.

"Always you Phoebe." James mumbled, shaking his head and running his hands through his sun-stained hair. Little bits of pink stuck the hair up. I realized he had blood on his hands.

"You- go wash your hands. I'm going to get Lauren." I turned on my heel and ran, throwing my door open and shaking Lauren with a vengeance. She woke straight up, looking at me in alarm. "Phoebe was hurt." She popped out of bed, rushing over. I was surprised her brain worked, being woken up like that; I suppose that's the doctor in her.

"Back away, let me see it." She knelt next to Phoebe, rolling her shirt up to get a look at the wound. "Ah. A pretty good field dressing, either way." She murmured, removing the shirt fragments that I'm pretty sure Phoebe wrapped there herself. She winced at the wound. "Chloe, go to my room and get my kit. Please hurry. She isn't going to die, but she's going to be in pain and she'll need a few stitches. Simon, go get some bottles of juice or water- whatever you can find." We both ran to do what we were told. James was still pacing, shooting glances at Tobias as if he prayed for him not to wake up.

I didn't understand the point of not telling Tobias- he was bound to find out, for one thing, and for another, it wasn't like he could do much about it. He'd be upset- he was like that, I noticed, caring and worried about everyone.

I didn't watch while Aunt Lauren sewed Phoebe up. She had a running commentary anyway: "Good, the bleeding's stopped," she'd say, or, "Her skin's kind of thin." I tried to ignore it while I sat on the bed. James was pacing, peeking over the couch occasionally to check the progress. Derek sat next to me, not saying anything. Simon was outside with their father, as he'd woken up to the noise.

"_**Ow.**_" Phoebe complained, swatting at Lauren. Her eyes fluttered open. "Um, what's going on?" Her eyes swept through the room, finally landing on me and staying there. Her pupils were slightly larger than normal, dilated.

"You and James were arguing about you being wounded earlier and not telling anyone. You passed out." I explained. James inhaled sharply at the same time Lauren cried out a loud, "Finished!" Then she covered her mouth. Tobias woke up, blinking slowly at the sight of everyone in the room. He followed the angle of everyone's bodies to his sister. He saw the blood and paled, sitting up.

"What happened?" he barely breathed, eyes trained on the red. Phoebe sat up, too, wincing.

"Nothing- I'm fine."

"That doesn't look like nothing, Phoebe."

"I'm fine- look. Lauren stitched it all up." I had never seen Phoebe look hesitant before, I'd never seen her give this look of something like fear around the room. And I'd never seen the temper in Tobias's eyes, like I could see at that moment.

"When did it happen?" he snapped the words out, standing up. Phoebe stood up, too, wincing and cringing at the pain.

"In the fight yesterday." She replied softly. And Tobias literally exploded. He was quite suddenly right in front of his younger sister.

"And you decided to not tell anyone you were wounded? What the _fuck_, Phoebe?" She cringed from his voice- it was loud, not a yell, just loud, filling the room. I looked at Derek, who did look caught off guard, too.

"I had it bandaged- I didn't think I should worry everyone else." He muttered something darkly, pacing with his hands behind his head before whipping back to face her again.

"Shouldn't worry anyone…Look, I'm your big brother, I'm nineteen, it's my job to take care of you and I don't know why you can't get that through your thick fucking skull." She cringed. "In case you haven't noticed, our mother gave us up. She didn't want us." Now tears filled Phoebe's eyes, but he wasn't finished with her yet. "And in case you didn't notice this either, I get hell every time I have a _paper cut_ and for once would you just let me take care of you like I'm supposed to instead of you treating me like a child? I can't –I can't…" he was panting, spent from yelling, shivering. No one moved, shock filling the room. James reacted first, looking at Phoebe's tear streaked face and giving Tobias a hard shove. The nineteen-year-old stumbled back a few steps, startled.

"You don't need to be yelling at her like that." James said in a low voice. "You should just shut the hell up and go back to bed." Tobias looked furious again.

"You gonna make me?" he asked, baring his teeth in what I expected was supposed to be a grim smile.

"If I have to. You're making her worse. She was getting color back, and then you wake up to scream at her and now look." James's brand of fury seemed to be quiet, like poison in the air ducts, instead of a bomb that exploded at the push of the right button.

Everyone's heads swiveled to face Phoebe, who was swaying gently, looking smaller than I'd ever seen her. I realized suddenly how skinny every one of them was just by looking at Phoebe; I hadn't really noticed before, she was always in charge and snapping out orders, strong and commanding. Now her hair was messy and hanging around her face, which was still sheet-white and tear stained.

While I was studying Phoebe, the boys had pretty much tackled each other. Derek swore and got up to pry them apart, but the fighting must've snapped something in Phoebe, because she reached down, flicked her wrist, and shoved James and Tobias apart a few feet. She wrapped her arms around James from behind, holding him back while Derek held Tobias back. Kit and Simon entered the room, looking around.

"What's going on?"

"Fight." Phoebe murmured, resting her head on James's back. She was visibly shaking. "I'm so tired, Toby, Jaime. Can't you guys stop? I want to go to bed." James relaxed and turned to face her, petting her hair.

"I'm sorry- I didn't mean to yell at you earlier…" he said quietly and I saw him shaking too. So was Tobias. He shook Derek off, who jumped forward to catch him as he went toward James and Phoebe, but he didn't mean to fight- it was clear in his body language.

"Let's go to sleep, guys." He said quietly. Phoebe nodded and backed away from both boys to check on Ava. She was still sleeping soundly, so Phoebe kissed her forehead and backed away.

"Thank you." She said to me, then surprised me by abruptly stepping forward and hugging me. I held very still for a moment, startled, then returned the hug for just a moment before she turned to Lauren and thanked her. "I'm sorry you guys got woken up at such a late hour." She had her eyes lowered and I realized she probably wasn't expecting Tobias's fury either.

We moved hotels each night. We weren't always near the woods, so Derek tried to Change whenever we were near the woods. Three nights after the incident with Phoebe and Tobias, we were near the woods again, and Derek decided to Change while everyone was still awake. Phoebe was talking to Tobias, James, and Ava while Tori and Simon sat in their room with them. Lauren and Kit were arguing in the guys' room. Derek just sort of nudged me outside and I went with him.

After he changed into a wolf, he nudged me toward the hotel again. I promised to be back in twenty minutes to check on him. He dipped his head in acknowledgement, so I left at a light trot. Tobias was sitting on the outside steps, waiting. He saw me and stood a little bit, then, when I didn't wave, winced.

"Look…I just wanted to tell you that I don't normally yell at my sister like that. And I don't fight regularly with James, either. Just, you know, for the record." I nodded slowly, sitting next to him on the stairs.

"Well, you made Phoebe pretty upset. I could tell. And it's not right to rage like that at your family." I said sternly.

"Right." He took a big breath. I had a question to ask him, so I spoke first.

"Phoebe said a name before that fight the other day. Do you know the guy?" I asked. "Is he someone we should try to rescue?" Tobias looked at his feet, sad.

"Zane?" I nodded. "He is someone we should avoid at all costs. He's dangerous- now. He and Phoebe were friends; best friends, really. We grew up together, sort of. We moved a lot, but it seemed like every other move, we'd meet up again. Then they caught up to us. Our mom was too happy to be rid of us." He shrugged. "She thought we were freaks. And we were, we just didn't realize how much."

"That's terrible." I said, shaking my head in disgust.

"Not her fault; I don't blame her much. Well," he grinned at me, "maybe I do. But for Phoebe, not for me." He sighed. "Sometimes I think she was always like this, then I remember how she used to be."

"How was she before?" I asked, thinking of myself before my life was turned around: shy, normal, just another somebody in a sea of somebody's. Movie lover, wannabe producer/screenwriter/director.

"Would you believe it if I told you my sister was into ballet?" he asked. I laughed.

"Really? Her?" I looked back at the doors where our friends were.

"I'm not kidding. She has great muscle control, which helped her when she wanted to learn how to fight. She has a wide berth of interests. She took ballet lessons, all types of fighting lessons, and she would volunteer at any and every humane society in whatever vicinity we were living in." He had this smile on his face, one I recognized as sibling pride.

"Hmm…" I hummed, trying to envision Phoebe doing ballet. "She's a dancer?"

"All kinds of dance." Tobias said with a nod.

"What about you? What did you do before?" He shifted uncomfortably.

"I got by. I left all the other stuff to Fee. I…" his cheeks darkened. "I knew I was a half-demon, like Phoebe, so I tried to blend in as much as I could."

"That's not a bad thing, Tobias." I said comfortingly. "I'm sure it was hard."

"You would know." He added sagely, nodding. "Like, if someone startles me and I teleport about five feet away. What do I say to explain that?" I sputtered a laugh.

"I'm sorry- has that happened before?" He nodded, cheeks reddening.

"Yes, once. It was difficult, but I managed to explain that I'd tripped, and why hadn't they seen me pitch forward?" he rolled his eyes.

"What did she want to be after high school? Or study to be." He looked down.

"I'm not sure and I don't think she was sure, either. I think that's why she kept her options open." He shrugged. "She likes you, trusts you. And that's hard to come by, Phoebe's trust." I tried not to look too shocked by that.

"I like her too; she's got this personality that makes her seem…"

"Big?" Tobias laughed. "Yeah, it's hard living up to your little sister's shadow." He shook his head and mumbled, "Commander-In-Chief, add that to list."

"What list?" I asked, turning to face him completely.

"List of things I'm making in my head of what Fee can be when she graduates." I started to smile, but he shook his head. "I'm going back up."

"Alright. I'll be…back there." I jerked a thumb toward the trees. "If anything happens."

"You'll probably hear Phoebe snapping out orders if anything does happen." We went our separate ways.

I walked into the clearing Derek and I had found earlier; he was just pulling his shirt over his head when I got there. He sat down on the blanket we'd brought with us and I joined him.

"Where'd you go?"

"I meant to go inside to check in with everyone, but I started talking to Tobias…" I said, then trailed off and looked up at him hesitantly.

"You know, they're starting to grow on me." He admitted. "Tobias is kind of…irritating…" he said deliberately, "But I don't mind James or Phoebe. Or Ava, though the kid is…disconcerting."

"Big word." I said approvingly. He scowled mockingly. "I haven't seen anything strange from her yet."

"But is that because we really haven't seen anything strange or is it because she doesn't want us to see anything strange?" he held up a hand when I opened my mouth to protest. "Just offering options, not saying they did anything to warp our opinions of them." We stayed quiet for a while, thinking this over.

"I think Simon likes Phoebe. I know he likes her, but I'm starting to think she likes him back."

"I'm not surprised that Simon has a new fetish- er, crush, already. No, ah, no offense…" He glanced uncertainly at me.

"I'm glad he has a new _crush_," I stressed the word, "because that means I –we didn't hurt him too badly. I just hope that Phoebe gives him a chance."

"Her?" he snorted lightly. "She'll chew him up and spit him out."

"That's why you approve of her." I laughed, and he joined me.

**James, 3****rd**** POV**

"Tori." He whispered lightly, giving her hand a little squeeze. "Come with me."

"Where?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. He just grinned and tugged her to her feet. He gave Phoebe a salute and left the room with Tori in tow. She resisted a little bit, but he knew she was curious. He let his wings spread out just a little bit and knew she was looking at them curiously. A chill ran up his spine when her fingers touched the feathers lightly; this was new. He was used to heat- he knew heat, he could use heat to get what he wanted. A chill? Girls never gave him chills. He started scolding himself on his way to the railing. He climbed up on it, pulling Tori with him, balancing her before speaking.

"Now, darlin', you're gonna want to hold on tight."

"To what?" she demanded, hands planted firmly on her hips. He chucked her chin, much to her annoyance.

"Why, me, of course, cutie." Contrary to his warning a moment ago, _he_ wrapped _his_ arms tight around _her_ waist, spread his wings, and leapt lightly into the air. Tori let out a shriek, burying he face against his chest, fingers wrapped tightly in his t-shirt. He grinned and landed hard on the roof of the hotel. He waited a moment, but Tori didn't let go. Still grinning, he petted her hair. "It's alright now, honey. We're standing on the roof." She kicked his shin.

"Jerk! A little warning would've been nice!" She snapped while he rubbed his leg and scowled.

"Hey, I was givin' fair warnin' by spreadin' the wings, kid. Not my fault you can't keep up."

"_Cain't? _Enunciate, hillbilly." He started to grin again.

"Sit down, sugar. You're cute when you're mad, but you're cuter when you're kissin' me." She scowled, but he could see her battling with herself not to laugh. Finally a chuckle slipped through clenched teeth.

"You're so annoying."

"I try." He said blandly. "Now, even though you can't- excuse me, _cain't-_ see the stars quite so well out here in the city, we can look at them just as good."

"Well."

"Beg pardon?"

"Look at them just as _well._" Tori corrected. He grinned and pressed his luck by kissing her.

"You're adorable."

"You are deplorable." She said primly, in what he considered a very Yankee accent. Adorable. He sighed dreamily.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"I'm already crazy bout you, sugar." He leaned over closer to her. "But what about you?" In response, she leaned closer. He withheld the grin so that he could get that kiss he sensed.

**Phoebe 3****rd**** POV**

"But I think we should stay close." Ava protested while Phoebe attempted to make plans with her brother. She was sitting at the table, eating animal crackers and trying to come up with tactical plans of attack and defense. Phoebe scrunched her nose at the seven-year-old.

"I know it seems like a good idea to stay nearby so we can keep an eye on them, but right now, we're hot stuff, kiddo. We gotta keep a move on, and maybe just heading south and disappearing for a while won't be so bad." Ava pursed her shell pink lips in thought.

"We could visit James's family."

"That's right." Phoebe said in relief, turning to Tobias again.

"But the bad guys could still follow us." Phoebe ground her teeth together.

"That's why we're getting away. And if they catch up to us, we fight. I taught you to never give your back to your enemies, remember?"

"Yep." She seemed satisfied for now, and turned her attention on her crackers.

"So south it is." Tobias sighed, shaking his head. "How are we going to get Mr. Bae and Dr. Fellows to go with that, though? They want to stay."

"Pressure and logic, duh." Phoebe rolled her eyes. When Tobias's eyes flicked over her shoulder, she suppressed a sigh and turned to Simon. "You want to help?" she asked rigidly.

"I can't think of anything I can offer to help at the moment." He said just as stiffly, not meeting her eyes. She sighed and tried to relax her tone.

"We're all having problems planning. And those two," she gestured at the wall separating them from the adults, "aren't getting us anywhere by arguing." Hesitantly, Simon joined them at the coffee table.

**James 3****rd**** POV**

"I don't know you." Tori said, shoving James away. He grinned lazily. "I know nothing about you. Why am I letting you kiss me?"

"You kissed me that time, baby-doll."

"Shut up." She said sharply. Not put out, he reached for her and pulled her back with him, so they were lying down.

"Relax, I'm not going to jump you. Hmmm…what do you need to know?"

"Last girlfriend. What was she like?" James laughed and sat up. She followed him.

"She was a bitch." He laughed again. "For some reason…anyway. Yeah, she'd try to claw your eyes out right about now." He skimmed his knuckles across her jaw in a mock punch. "But I think you could take her, slugger."

"That doesn't tell me anything but she was possessive."

"That's about it. She was a good kisser, but you're better. Blonde, from Alabama. Kinda taller than you. When I say blonde," he added when he saw her dark, dangerous-hot- expression, "I mean bleach blonde. Do you have something against blonds?" he asked, touching at his sun stained blond hair to show what he meant.

"Helpless, idiot blonds who can't take care of themselves." He tilted his head.

"I thought you liked me." He said, mockingly hurt. She rolled her eyes.

"I meant my…sister. And, okay, Chloe, when I first met her."

"Hmm. You two seem like best friends." He rolled his eyes, then peered closer at her. "You actually don't seem to keep anyone close, do you?" he said softly, then saw her face pale and her eyes fill and felt bad instantly. "Hey, sugar, I didn't mean anything by that." He wrapped his arms around her, felt her stiffen up and start to pull back, but then, after a moment, she relaxed.

**Phoebe 3****rd**** POV**

"What is that?" She murmured, tilting her head. "Are they throwing things at each other? Tobias, are they- do you hear that? Are they throwing things?" It was a sound like thunder, but closer. Pounding feet, maybe crashing plates? Simon was looking between Tobias, Phoebe, and the wall.

"What do you hear?" he asked slowly, confused. Phoebe pursed her lips.

"Not sure." She replied, moving to the door just before it blew open, a man's foot falling down after kicking it in. He grinned at her.

"Hey, Phoebe. Miss you back at the lab." He leveled a gun at her face. "Now move outside where our snipes can see you."

"Go to hell, John." She said, lifting her chin. He rolled his eyes and swung the gun, but she moved, grabbed it, and threw it to Tobias. Ava was up in a flash and had the heel of her hand crushing his nose instantly. Simon wasn't moving.

"You, get down. They'll probably start shooting the windows." She snapped at him, holding the cursing and bleeding John.

"Not likely, brat. They're just going to storm the place if you don't cooperate." Her eyes widened as more men in black SWAT like suits started rushing in.

"Toby, the woods. C and D. Warn." She snapped out, closing her eyes and twisting John's neck sharply. He went limp, and she grimaced. "Ava, get ready. Simon, stay back."

"Stay back, hell, I'm a sorcerer." Simon snapped. "Even if you don't like me, I'm useful." She looked at him for a long moment.

"Alright."

**Lauren, 3****rd**** POV**

"You know what?" Lauren snapped, keeping the three foot distance between her and Kit. "I blame this on you and your boys. We wouldn't be in this mess if they'd have just let Chloe get better."

"Do you regret leaving the Edison Group? Are you going to rejoin them, Dr. Fellows? And what about those other kids? Are you going to drag them back there?" he asked in a low, deliberate voice.

"No, of course not!" Lauren snapped, flushing. "I wasn't suggesting that we ever go back there. I was- I just want things to stop going wrong!" She shouted, feeling tears prick her eyes. Kit's eyes didn't soften, didn't flicker. Damn man.

"Then we're going to have to work together and you're going to have to tell me what you did to Phoebe and the others." She was about to answer- she would have answered, she really would have- when a man came in the door. He was holding a gun, simply holding it like a pencil or a pen or phone.

"You're going to come with me or we're going to slice the throats of Simon Bae, Derek Souza, Victoria Enright, and Chloe Saunders." He smiled. "We have them all in custody. My name is Dr. Adrian Jeffers." His brown, flat eyes- like sharks' eyes- were focused on the two adults. "I figure the only way to get what I want- the recombinants- is to take some hostages. You and the other children are to be my offering for their lives." Lauren jumped when she heard shouts and gunfire on the roof, next door—in the woods where Chloe and Derek had been?

"Don't hurt them." She said quietly. "Don't- we'll come with. Won't we, Kit?" She looked at him, saw him thinking; could he knock back this man, so they could fight?

"Don't think about it, Mr. Bae. If in a couple minutes I don't give word that I have you in custody, my men have kill orders, one at a time for the boys. Of course, I cannot say the same for the young ladies; my men have been quite…deprived lately, looking for the Icarus experiments." Kit and Lauren both paled at the ghastly comment. Dr. Jeffers smiled. "Yes, you understand. So, come along now, children." Scowling, they went forward. "Mr. Bae, if you please, hold still while I bind your hands. Being a normal human, I doubt Lauren can put up much of a fight." The way he said it, Lauren expected that he wanted her to, just so he could hit her. She kept her mouth shut.

They were taken to a van, tossed in the back where a bunch of men were waiting to bind them to their seats like convicts.

"What a pity that you didn't fight. I was hoping to have a reason to pay you back for the trouble you've caused me." Jeffers sighed, shaking his head.

"Where's Chloe and the rest?" Lauren demanded, glowering when the men pushed her back. Jeffers smiled widely. "You said they were here." He shrugged.

"I lied. They're dead already."

"You're lying now." Kit said, his voice hoarse.

"You don't believe me?" Jeffers laughed. "Find, _don't_ believe me. One of my men is dead, though, because he was bitten by your son the werewolf. I can't have more than one wolf on my team. They'd fight. So after we shot that one in the head, we shot the other one. He was trying to protect the small blonde. We had trouble with her, too, and had to break her neck." Lauren closed her eyes against the images he was planting in her head.

"Liar." She whispered, willing herself to believe that he was lying.

"She was such a small thing; bird bones, not unlike the recombinants I want to reclaim." He sighed. "And that other boy, the Asian with blond hair? He put up a…thorough…fight, but he wasn't quite as skilled in hand-to-hand as my men. He was shot twice in the chest, poor thing. The other girl…" he smiled. "Well, she took some time to fade, but she eventually begged to be killed. You realize how long we've been here?" he asked, tilting his head at them. Lauren felt her stomach roll with nausea at the thought of what they'd done to the girls before killing them. She looked at Kit's face, but it was stiff and impassive.

_What am I thinking? They're alive, I know they're alive, they have to be alive. Please be alive…_

**James, 3****rd**** POV**

"Get behind me." James growled tersely, using his body to block Tori off from the men pouring onto the roof. A knife glinted in the dim lighting cast from nearby streetlamps. James's hands were hot; he wanted to hurt someone, especially when they aimed at her with that knife. He feinted to the left, then went to the right, wrapping his fiery hand around the man's arm until he felt the skin melt and bone started to show. He moved on to the next guy as the first guy screamed in agony.

The only thing that could possibly have brought James out of his reign of terror and fire on those men was the thing that did- Tori screaming shortly before being dropped to the ground as a guy straightened up.

"They have them in custody. Let's go." They cleared out as quickly as they'd appeared. James spun to face Tori- she was on her side, blood dripping quickly out of her leg. Swearing softly, he pulled off his belt and tied it above the wound. While he was working, he wondered- who did they have in custody?

**Chloe 1****st**** POV**

Derek and I were still talking when Tobias appeared behind Derek. I yelped, jumping about a foot and a half in the air. He was holding a gun, blood on his forehead, spewing from a cut. Derek spun around , then grimaced.

"What happened?" he asked. "Did you fall?"

"No- what? No, we need to- Phoebe said to get you guys to safety- safe- damn it, Simon." Tobias hissed. "I was fighting with people- there are people here, Jeffers people. I saw some, I had to stop, should have been out here sooner…" he paused to look us over. "You're not injured? They didn't get here then." His shoulders relaxed.

"Tobias, what's going on?"

"Jeffers sent people. Phoebe's in there fighting, Ava too. Can't find James or Tori. Simon's with Phoebe; she wanted me to take him with you guys and get you to safety. Simon wouldn't leave her, he had to help." He was shaking, I noticed.

"Tobias, why don't you sit down? You should sit down and take a breath." I reached for his arm, but he jerked away.

"No!" He shook his head, then tilted it toward the hotel again. "Ava…she said they're gone. We have to go. Come on." He disappeared, then reappeared about a foot from where he'd been, swearing. "I'll run with you guys." His wings were hanging out just a little, feathers twitching in agitation. "My sister…" he murmured, glazed eyes on the hotel.

"Go ahead. We'll catch up." I said softly, pulling my jacket on. Tobias shook his head.

"I have to stay with you guys. Phoebe can take care of herself. Always has; she can handle anything…"

Phoebe wasn't injured; neither was Simon nor Ava. James came through the door with Tori in his arms, her pant leg covered in blood, the wound still leaking cheerfully. A brown belt was wrapped above the wound, acting as a tourniquet. James was sheet white again, his head bowed as he murmured to Tori.

"Lay her on the bed. I'm going next door to get Lauren. No, Chloe, you have to stay with her." Phoebe added when I got up to accompany her. With a grim nod, I sat beside Tori on the bed. She was awake now, cursing.

"Are you-" I stopped myself from asking if she was alright, because it was clear that she wasn't. "Do you want something?" I asked lamely.

"Yes, I want my blood to stay _inside_." She snapped. I resisted rolling my eyes and got up to get her some orange juice from the cooler.

"Son of a bitch!" Phoebe yelled from next door, and I heard an ominous thump. I looked at Derek in alarm, my eyes wide. Simon got up to go see the problem, but the door flew open, followed seconds later by Phoebe's cursing, then by the hellion herself. She was carrying Lauren's medical bag. "Tobias, go next door and pack their things up. Ava, go with him. James, you better get ready to get some on-site medical training."

"No." Tobias said instantly. "James can't do it. Send him with Avie, I'll handle this. You'll have to hold her down." He added, looking at his sister. She nodded.

"Alright. James, I'm sorry- go with Ava to get Lauren and Kit's things packed up. Quickly." I grabbed Phoebe's arm as she walked by.

"Please…what's going on?"

"Chloe, I promise I'll tell you everything. I trust you- you're a friend. But right now, Tori is going to bleed out." She said, eyes clear and honest. I nodded and released her arm. James was scowling.

"I'm not going; I'm staying with her." He'd lost any accent in his rigid, icy anger.

"This is just going to be harder on you. And Ava can't go by herself. See? She's scared. Someone is going to have to explain things to her, and you're the best bet on that." Phoebe wheedled and swore and promised in order to shove James out the door with Ava, and she knew the right buttons to push to get him next door quickly. When she saw us all looking, she said, with a shrug, "He's a big brother; they're all the same." That earned a scowl from Tobias, but no one protested.

"What should we do to help?" Simon asked. I noticed that he was bleeding from several spots, too, as well as bruising along his jaw and cheek bone.

"Derek, I need you to start patching him up. We'll settle the rest later. Tobias, turn away while I do this. Sorry, Tori…dignity be damned." She started to smile reassuringly, cutting Tori's jeans. She cut past the wound, then stopped. "I think we can work from here. Chloe, go get a wash cloth and wet it. Several would be nice, but I doubt there's more than one." I went to the bathroom and searched to no avail; the closet offered the same results.

"There are no towels." I said flatly, watching as Phoebe frowned. She took a breath and nodded, standing and looking around. She huffed and went into the hall way. She came back pushing a cart –full of cleaning supplies and, yes, towels. She tossed a few to me, and took the rest off, then pushed the cart down the hall with a flick of her wrist.

It was difficult to watch Tobias stitch Tori up- especially with no anesthetic whatsoever, no numbing meds, nothing. She thrashed, but Phoebe dispassionately held her down with her power, eyes focused but distant. When they were done, Tori fell instantly into a deep sleep.

"When she wakes up," Phoebe told James quietly, "give her bread and water and fruit, okay?" he nodded, not looking at her or taking his eyes from Tori. He wore an expression I recognized from Derek whenever something happened: tense, fierce protectiveness. It was…sweet.

"Chloe." Phoebe's voice was soft. "You need to come sit down." Numbly, I sat beside Derek and Simon. Tobias was now cleaning cuts and lacerations on Phoebe's arms and face, but she didn't seem to notice him. She sat on the coffee table, pushing her hair back. "They took Lauren and Kit." She said it flatly, without any tone or inflection in her voice.

"Who?" I asked blankly, refusing to acknowledge what she said. She leaned forward toward me.

"They. The…Edison Group, Jeffers and his men, whoever you'd like to call them. They took Kit and Lauren." She was watching my face. I felt my lip tremble. It wasn't fair, I'd just gotten her back. Why would she let herself be taken? I'm sure that's how the guys felt, too; they'd just gotten their dad back, too. We may have had a year with them but that wasn't nearly enough. They were gone again; would they be killed this time? Why would they be needed at all? Why would they take them?

"D-do you think they're okay?" I finally managed. Phoebe sighed.

"I didn't smell any blood over there, so I'm sure they are. Though I'm not sure why they would take them and not us." She frowned, then her eyes clouded with thought. Tobias sighed.

"She'll be thinking for awhile. For now, is anyone else hurt? I can fix you up."

While Phoebe thought, Tobias cleaned, and James hovered over Tori, Ava seemed a little lost. I knew the feeling. Derek and Simon were talking quietly and I didn't want to disturb them, so I sat beside Ava on the opposite bed.

"Are you alright?" I asked her, ducking to see her face. She may have been seven, but she was nearing my height. Phoebe had already explained this to me- their genetics made them really tall and thin with light bones, but they were really strong and sturdy.

"I am." Ava responded, turning to face me. "But are you? Your aunt got taken again. They're so mean. Why do they like to hurt people?" My eyes rounded. I'd never been around little kids for extended periods of time and didn't know how to handle this.

"I don't know. I think maybe because they're just bad people and they think it's okay." What do you say to a kid who wants answers to a centuries old question? Her lip started trembling badly, and there were some serious waterworks on their way.

"But—why? They've never hurt anybody." I didn't bother to correct her on that, instead focusing on my growing alarm. "They just wanted to protect us. Every time someone starts to protect us, they-" James stood, as if that first tear that trekked down Ava's cheek was a signal to him, and scooted me out of the way to cradle Ava to his chest.

"It's alright, Avie, we'll get them back and they'll be safe and sound." He murmured into her dark curls, rocking her a little. I gave up and went to sit on the couch where Derek and Simon were speaking.

"Okay, but what if they come back?" Derek asked quietly, shifting automatically to put an arm around me without moving his eyes from his brother.

"We'll fight like we did earlier. If we managed to get out like okay this time, without you or Chloe helping, then we'd be okay with you here, too." Simon raised his chin defiantly.

"Enough." Phoebe stood up, sweeping her hair into a ponytail with the rubber band on her wrist, wincing a little as it pulled. "I'm going to say this once, okay?" She looked around at everyone. "They were probably taken as bait for us. They want you back or dead and they definitely want us back. That's the only reason they took Kit and Lauren and that's probably the only reason they'll keep them alive."

"Which means you don't plan to go after them." Derek said flatly, clearly understanding what she meant. His arm around me was tense and taut as wire, not tight, but very still. She nodded.

"But just until we can get the information we need to go after them. If they capture us, then they have no need for Dr. Fellows and Kit." She slipped into formalities again. "If I could figure out a trade that would work- me for the both of them- I'd do it in a heartbeat." Her eyes hardened. "No one messes with my friends, okay? I don't like it. But all I can do is get the information we need and hope for the best."

"Where's this information?" Simon asked quietly.

"James knows." Phoebe jerked her chin toward him. The blond didn't look up from rocking Ava, but he nodded.

"Down south, where I'm from." He said in a muffled voice. "My home town."

"So we'll have to leave." Phoebe continued, hands snapping to her hips.

"We can't leave!" I blurted.

"You're right, we can't leave yet." She sighed heavily, touching her forehead. I didn't bother correcting her yet. "First things first, I have to teach you guys to fight." Outrage and indignation all around.

**? ? ? ? POV 3****rd**

_No, no, no, no, no! I will not kill her, I will not kill them, can't kill them, not close enough, can't do it._ He thinks, closing his eyes tight. He feels his muscles spasm and smiles in pleasure. _Have to Change, no choice._ The back of his neck tingles and he sighs with relief. He's allowed to run tonight, they can't put it off any longer.

When he is a wolf, he feels happy again; it's a nice, safe feeling. Running, playing, chasing, hunting…eating. _Have to find Phoebe, have to get help…._ He focuses himself, running to the hotel he knows they're staying in. Starts scratching in the dirt. Prays no one accidentally –or purposely –marks it out.

_HLP ME PH. CUT CC OUT. _

**That was the longest chapter yet. I almost made it to 7,000 words. I might just make a really long author's note just to make it—yay! Got it! ^^ Please review. I hate getting fav's and alerts in my inbox and then no review. It's sort of rude, don't you think? Well, whatever. Thanks for reading. Chapter 5 is getting typed probably as you read this. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Well here's chapter five. Hope you like it. I just finished typing chapter four and I put it up so that means I'm going to start on chapter five. I have yet to see the turn outs of my work for chapter four. Hope it was liked! ^^ Taking me way longer than usual because well…winter break…and other things. This is sof far the shortest chapter. I feel bad. D: But I tried. **

**Chapter Five **

**Phoebe 3****rd**** POV**

She didn't sleep all night; she couldn't. She was way too tense, so Phoebe sat on the roof and watched from all directions for any intruders. She ached from the fight, but it was an ache she recognized and enjoyed. She could live with it and would ignore it when the time came to force her new additions out of this hotel for their own safety.

When the sun rose, she decided they'd be safe enough- Tobias always woke with the sun easily. She dropped lightly from the roof and started toward the woods that could hold potential danger. She gritted her teeth as tension started flowing into her like she was breathing it in.

"What is that?" She muttered to herself, bending. Then she shot to her feet, eyes huge.

The letters were crudely scratched into the dirt and huge- like a third grader with a fist sized pencil or stick had scratched it into the dirt.

_Or,_ she thought grimly, _a boy in the shape of a wolf using his claws._ She felt tears sting her eyes, but immediately worked to cover up the letters. To hide the hope she felt. Of course, it was impossible. He was gone and there was no way to bring him back. If she ever saw him, she'd have to kill him.

**Simon, 3****rd**

Phoebe came out of the woods by herself. Simon knew something was wrong, so he stayed where he was, on the cement steps outside of the rooms. Her cheek was smudged with mud; her hands a little dirty as well. Her tanker boots were dusted with dry dirt and if Simon was right, she'd been crying.

"Are you alright?" he couldn't help asking as she got closer to him.

She jumped.

"Oh. I'm fine." She mumbled, starting to go around him.

He stepped in her way, earning a stone-gray glare."You were crying."

Her jaw and spine stiffened simultaneously. "I wasn't crying. I don't cry." She said darkly.

Simon raised a brow."That's got to be a little difficult, keeping all of your emotions on the inside, then. You've got to want to sometimes." He said, opting for a lightness that she'd probably see through.

"I-" she shook her head, and he saw, with some satisfaction, that she was fighting a smile. "I don't want to."

"You don't like emoting much, do you?" he pressed, moving a little closer to her.

She took a step back, then, frowning, two steps toward him."I emote. I emote just fine." She said, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed.

"Crying is a way to emote."

"No, crying is a pointless act of self-pity."

"Self-pity can sometimes come in handy if you're feeling down."

She sighed irritably, grinding her teeth together audibly. "You're really annoying."

"And you are now emoting anger." He pointed out.

She looked like she was contemplating the idea of hitting him. Finally she laughed, but only for a second before going sober again.

"Yeah, I was crying. A little bit. I didn't want to." She admitted, shaking her head and looking at her dirty hands as if she couldn't see them. "I hate crying. It doesn't get anything done."

Simon moved a few inches closer."What were you doing?" he asked quietly. "Burying a body?" he added to lighten the mood his quiet tone had caused.

"No I was not-" She glared at him. "I wasn't burying a body. I was just throwing a temper tantrum." She said the last sentence slowly and Simon realized with a flash of insight that she was lying.

He blinked, stepping back. "I guess I'll leave you to that, then." He said coldly.

She huffed in surprise, then caught his wrist as he turned to go up the stairs. "Simon- wait. We have to- you and me, we have to talk."

His spine stiffened defensively as he turned to face her again. "About what?" he asked, still cold. He felt bad when she flinched, but didn't say anything.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" she asked, staring at him head on.

He felt himself fighting a grin. "No," he said in a lighter tone.

She stared at him warily. "Alright, then let's take a walk. Come on." She urged, tugging at his arm.

He followed.

They went into the woods together, Phoebe's long, thin fingers still wrapped around Simon's wrist. He didn't try to shake her off, instead letting her think she was almost forcing him to the walk. She glanced back at him a couple times, but didn't seem to notice that he was watching the swish of her hair over her t-shirt, wondering about her wings.

"Hey, Phoebe…" he said slowly; she looked back, pausing.

"Yes?" she prompted when he didn't say anything else.

"Can you spread your wings?"

She stared at him blankly for a moment, before her pale cheeks went a little pink."Right. My wings." Her tone was rigid, but she turned and loosened her shoulders, spreading her wings for him to see.

His breath left him as it always seemed to when he saw her do something amazing. It took him a moment to understand why her tone had changed, another to decide how to fix the problem he'd caused this time.

"Phoebe, you know you're beautiful, don't you?"

she started laughing, like he'd shocked her. She didn't turn to look at him, laughing just enough to make her feathers ruffle. She pulled them in, but not all the way, letting them hang loose like a shield around her back. She finally cleared her throat and turned to look at him.

"You're a strange boy, Simon Bae. That was no time to tell me that I'm beautiful while you're marveling at the fact that I am a freak." She pointed out, flicking his chest.

He took a breath and was surprised to find the air a bit hard to breathe. "You're a freak, I'm a freak, we're all freaks."

"You're not a freak- you're totally normal." She accused, like normalcy was now the bad thing.

He frowned. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. I just think that their experiments worked on me, when they just increased everyone else's powers."

She tilted her head, staring at him through stormy, pale gray eyes so clear and cool that he felt maybe like he was looking into a pool of water.

**Phoebe**

_Why is he looking at me like that? What is he looking at? He looks like he just swallowed razor blades._ She thought in distress, taking a shaky breath.

He took a step forward, but she took one back. He grimaced, starting to retreat again, but Phoebe made a little noise, reaching for him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, catching his wrist.

He looked at her.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked flatly. His amber eyes were a little hurt, but mostly they were guarded, wary.

She shook her head, simply pulling him down to her level and pressing her lips against his to show him what she wanted. He pulled back sharply. "Why?" he asked now, emotion filling his voice again.

She shook her head again, arms looped around his neck stubbornly, every part of them pressed together but their lips, where she wanted to be merged with him.

"I don't know, why not?" she whispered a little recklessly. His hands slid to her waist. "I like you- I didn't want to." She shook her head a third time, harder, like she was trying to clear it. "But I do, and this is a bad idea but that doesn't mean I'm not going to like it." She said quietly.

Simon started to lower his head again, but stopped. "Are you sure?"

"I don't do anything I'm not sure of." She scoffed, partially offended, partially amused. She pulled his head to hers, tired of waiting, and kissed him, tilting her head until he played along, his tongue slipping smooth as water through her lips to press gently to the roof of her mouth. She gasped, automatically biting down- he started laughing.

"Sorry," he breathed, one hand wrapping in her hair and pulling her head back so he could press his lips to her throat lightly. "Your skin is almost transparent…" he said softly, then released her and stepped back. "We should get back."

She stared at him for a moment, then took his hand decisively, wrapping her fingers through his. If he wasn't going to stay longer and kiss her with those clever lips of his, then they were going to stay connected some how.

"Okay?" she asked, squeezing his hand to show what she meant.

He tilted his head. "If it's okay with you, it's okay with me."

She raised her brows at him. "That is not something you should say before you know a person." She laughed at his expression, leading him out of the woods toward the hotel again. She gave him a little tug when he dragged his feet.

"I don't think I want to go back yet." He complained lightly, but she rolled her eyes.

"We have to- I have to teach you guys how to fight."

"I know how to fight, Derek knows how to fight. Chloe and Tori are learning. We're not _that_ bad."

"You guys do know how to fight, I admit that. We just have different training than you guys. It'd be better if you cooperated." She added sweetly at the end. "Because I _know_ you can fight, I saw you last night. I just think if _you_ went with it, everyone else would."

His eyes narrowed.

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm, but okay." He started to grin, so she smiled back.

After waking everyone up unceremoniously –she was yelled at with very colorful vocabulary- Phoebe forced everyone to be showered and dressed before they met in a clearing behind the hotel –deep in the woods. They were all gathered in a sort of loose circle.

Derek and Chloe stood next to each other, Chloe leaning against Derek's side as she stared with tired eyes at Simon and Phoebe's linked hands. (She hadn't been able to let go for a long period of time; he was comforting, if he let himself be) They were all pale, even James. Tori was sitting on a fallen log that James had led her to. Her leg was heavily bandaged and straight out so that it didn't bleed.

"I was going to put Ava with Chloe," Phoebe began, "but since Tori's sitting out, I'll pair up with Chloe." That woke Chloe right up with an indignant sort of noise.

"Why- why would I get paired with Ava? She's seven!" She protested, then glanced at Ava and smiled. "No offense, or anything." Ava didn't respond, staring at Phoebe.

"Because she's closer to your size than I am. Plus, she's still stronger than you. No offense, or anything. We're all really strong." Phoebe shook her hair back, then gave up and wrapped it in a rubber band quickly. "Alright. Tobias, you're paired with Derek. Simon, you're with James." She said, a little regretfully. "Chloe," she motioned her closer. "Ava, sit with Tori. Don't play any games, either." She added. "You have to watch as much as she does."

"What, exactly, are we supposed to be learning?" Chloe asked hesitantly.

"I want you guys to show me what you got first, then we'll get to learning." Phoebe replied, then raised her voice, not that she needed to. "Got that? And, Derek…don't hold back. Trust me."

Derek rolled his eyes and Phoebe figured that if he didn't heed her advice, he'd learn after round one.

"It's okay, Phoebe. I'll go easy on him." Tobias called, grinning. He gestured at Derek to come at him.

"Alright, Chloe. Show me what you got. Any offensive moves? Or just defensive?"

"Mostly defensive," she admitted.

"Alright. I'm going to attack you. I'm not going to tell you when or where or how." Chloe nodded, setting her teeth. Phoebe jumped straight at her, twisting when she froze in surprise. "Alright, that's not quite what I wanted… Here, try to hit me."

"I don't think-"

"Chloe, hit me." Phoebe snapped. And then she grinned when the shorter girl's hand clenched. She did have some anger in her after all.

They took a break to get lunch- a huge lunch- and then they went back to work. Phoebe had to admit that they were getting better very quickly. Derek had learned not to hold back when it came to tricky-and-slippery Tobias. Simon had even managed to hit James in the gut, which he did not like. Phoebe had to get him to take a walk before he relaxed enough to practice again. Simon then managed to knock him flat on his back. He was up quickly, then, and gave Simon a split lip.

"Alright, that is _enough_." Phoebe snapped. "James, you sit down with Tori. Ava, you pair up with Chloe. Simon, come here."

_If they wouldn't act like children, I wouldn't have to do this,_ she thought in agitation.

Tobias raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Then he got knocked to the ground by Derek. When Derek got up, Tobias was gone, already behind Derek. He planted a boot on his ass and shoved him into the dirt.

Phoebe bent double with laughter, same with Chloe, Simon, and Ava. Derek stood, rubbing the dirt off his chin. Then he jabbed Tobias in the gut, and Phoebe could have sworn he was grinning.

"Ready, Phoebe?" she heard it, from a distance, and realized she'd lost focus a moment before Simon's foot swung out at her.

She ducked and moved in time for him to hit a tree, and for her to shove him into it. He swung around, grinning through his split lip at her. "Pretty quick." He grinned wider.

She couldn't help smiling as she thought over her next move at the speed of light just before acting on it and coming up with a way to counteract the move she knew he would make.

After another few hours, Tori started complaining about having to sit "listening to this hillbilly" which, of course, made James grin like he'd won as some big lottery prize; which, in all reality, he seemed to think of Tori's attention as a prize. No one could fathom why. Phoebe decided it would be okay to go inside, but Derek stopped them.

"You guys need to work on your powers." He said, planting his feet, setting his jaw, and crossing his arms.

Phoebe recognized the signs of a stubborn boy from when she would argue with Tobias. She put her hands out in front of her.

"What do you mean?"

James and Ava stood on her right, Tobias on her left. Simon stood between her and Derek, looking back and forth. Chloe was across from Simon, also looking confused. Derek jerked his chin at Phoebe.

"You guys have tells. They're going to give people warnings before you use your power." He said, tapping his biceps.

Phoebe huffed. "Like what?"

"You flick your wrist when you're going to use your telekinesis. Tobias makes a fist before he disappears. James- he's powerful enough to burn something from a distance, but he has to touch it anyway."

Phoebe flushed as the truth of his words hit her.

"Alright. We have to work on our powers." She shrugged. "Thanks."

His eyes widened in surprise. Chloe hid a laugh behind a cough.

"Ah, you're welcome," he replied.

"Now, let's go get something to eat, because I'm starving. Also, I'm thinking we should just send Tobias and James to get the food this time. We're less noticeable if it's just those two. Even if they're ordering a lot." Phoebe shrugged. "Don't go to the same place, okay?" She said, heading toward the hotel again. Tobias nodded. "And I'll give you the money; it's in my backpack."

Simon caught up, wrapping his fingers through hers. She squeezed his hand a little tightly, but released the pressure after a moment, fearing that she might break his bones. Tobias glared over at Simon; Phoebe grinned at him. Her brother was way too protective sometimes.

The boys went to get food while Phoebe packed things up with quick efficiency. She tried not to feel the fatigue that staying up all night after a fight brought, but she felt her eyes drooping. Then they popped open wide when a hand touched her shoulder lightly, right where her wings were.

"Why don't you take a nap? I know you didn't sleep." Simon said softly.

Phoebe shook her head. "I'm fine. But if you're tired, you guys should rest up. We can't have people falling asleep during anything big." She smiled weakly.

"You don't trust anyone to take care of things without you." Simon said, head tilted.

She flushed. "I do trust you guys—I do. It's just…I know if I want to ensure everyone's safety that it's just easier to do it myself. Safer, too, because if someone else messes up, I tend to tear a chunk out of them. If I mess anything up, it's usually only me that gets hurt."

Simon rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You and Derek could be twins."

Phoebe frowned. "What does that mean?"

"You're so self-sacrificing."

She huffed, straightening her spine. "I am not self-sacrificing."

"Um-hm," he said in a slightly sarcastic tone.

Phoebe blinked a few times before raising her chin and turning back to her brother's things as she packed. Simon touched her arm lightly. "Just take a nap."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because you told her it was a good idea." Ava provided, smiling.

Phoebe scowled at the little traitor and turned on her heel to stalk away from the conspiracy.

Simon eventually talked Phoebe into taking a nap. She didn't like it, but as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out and dreaming of her one time best friend.

Tobias woke her with food and she launched into a safety speech, scolding everyone about just letting the boys back in. Derek pointed out that he could smell them, and she relented.

"We have to leave." She said, not looking at everyone for a moment to brace herself.

Derek went quiet, his jaw tight- he knew it was logical, but he didn't want to abandon his father.

"What if they get away and come back? I know it's a slim chance, but they have to know where to find us." Chloe said, stepping forward immediately.

"Yeah, we can't just leave them."

"Simon, your father's a sorcerer. He can track us. And he wouldn't leave Dr. Fellows. I think- well, they know where we are, guys. Do you _want_ to be locked up there again?" She looked around, meeting their eyes.

Tobias, Ava, and James were ready to go- they looked grim, but ready. Tori was scowling, though her eyes were light, because James had his hand on her shoulder.

"No, of course not. But we can't just abandon them."

"We're not abandoning them. We're leaving so we can get more help." Phoebe said a little tightly. She thought for a moment. "Okay, here's a deal. We stay for two more days- but not in this hotel. In a different one, close, but not close enough to get us killed." She looked around.

"Alright." Simon said softly, his eyes not wavering from hers.

She wasn't sure whether she should be irritated or happy that he wasn't being submissive.

Triumphant, Phoebe practically threw their things into the van- including Kit and Lauren's things. Tobias was set to drive, everyone else scattering into the back. Tori was stretched out in the cargo area with James, Derek and Chloe were in the third row of seats, and Simon and Phoebe were in the seats behind Tobias and Ava.

"South?"

"A little bit." Phoebe replied, not looking at her brother.

He waited a beat before driving.

**Chloe POV **

Minutes into the drive, Phoebe fell asleep again, her head dipping onto Simon's shoulder. I nudged Derek and pointed. He nodded, shooting me a grin, which widened when Simon hesitantly put his head on hers.

"It's kind of cute." I whispered in hopes of not waking them up.

"Yeah." Derek snorted, "Cute."

"It is." I insisted quietly.

"I agree. Ain't it just a_dorable?_ Just like it's going to be so dang cute when Tobias finally gets fed up and rips his head off?" James said cheerfully from behind us.

"Rips his head off figuratively," I said, clarifying when Derek went tense.

"Not if he's mad enough," James chirped.

"Shut up." Tobias said from the front.

James snickered, but managed to muffle it against Tori's shoulder.

The newest hotel (another one…) was a small one, one of those hotels that offers cheap rooms for "five hour naps", and we were on the second floor. I noticed that all the kids with wings were more comfortable the higher off the ground we were. I didn't say it to them, but I did mention it to Derek, who said that he'd noticed, too.

Phoebe sent the guys out for food again. She took to sitting in a chair by the door. I pulled a chair up beside her. The only other person to talk to would have been Tori- who was asleep. Derek and Simon were talking in undertones that I figured they didn't want interrupted. Ava had gone with James and Tobias.

"Were you being honest, when you said the reason we were going was to find a way to rescue them?" I asked quietly.

Phoebe turned to face me very slowly. "I was honest. The plan was to get all of you to James' home town, where we can get the information needed to get into the compound. Now we can use that same information to break in—to break them out."

"Thanks," I said quietly, starting to get up.

"Chloe." She frowned at me. "I said that I would help you guys, and I meant it." Her eyes were steady and I nodded.

"Okay."

We all had one room to share- Phoebe deemed it safer that way- and it was more than a little uncomfortable. Tori and I were supposed to be sharing one of the queen-sized beds, so we had the top comforter lining the middle to keep a perimiter. Simon and Derek were on the other bed. Phoebe had taken the small couch, and James was on the roll-out bed that came in the closet of the room. Tobias made a bed on the floor with blankets and extra pillows we managed to finesse from the staff.

"Chloe?" Derek whispered very softly.

"Yes?" I breathed back, holding very still.

"Do you want to take a walk?"

It was strange, talking to him in the dark, not being able to see him, while a lot of other people were in the room with us, sleeping- or at least pretending to.

"Yeah, sure." I said, sitting up to get my shoes and jacket. "Are you Changing?" I asked, freezing.

"No, no, I'm fine. I just wanted to take a walk." He assured softly, leading the way outside.

"Stay close, please…" Phoebe murmured, not lifting her head.

"We will," I replied before Derek could, shoving him out the door.

Xx

"Were you restless?" I asked as we circled the hotel.

"A little. I was just thinking about how we're going to get Dad and Dr. Fellows back. I mean- what could they possibly have down there that we can't come up with here?" he asked, running the hand that wasn't holding mine though his hair anxiously.

"I don't know, but I trust Phoebe's judgement. They could have…I don't know, floorplans." I started to grin. "Or detailed profile repots of all the staff. We could go in like spies and know all their weaknesses."

"With ninja stars and laser watches, too?" he grinned back, squeezing my fingers.

"Who knows…James does seem to be pretty confident about his friends." I said wisely.

"You are adorable." Derek sighed almost too low for me to hear before he simply tugged me into his arms to kiss me dizzy.

XXXXXXX 2 Days later (**Boring two days, all they did really was rattle around and bicker a bit)**

"I'm sorry, guys, but we have to go."

That's how Phoebe woke us up after two days of staying at the questionable hotel. She looked really upset, as if she, too, was hoping for Kit and Lauren to show up. I felt my hopes fall flat, tears biting my eyes. I squeezed them shut quickly, nodding at Phoebe so I could start getting my things together.

We all procrastinated- Phoebe included. She let us stay until noon before we started loading everything into the van. Derek seemed agitated about something and kept fumbling over things until I offered to help. Simon noticed as well, so he took over while I packed my things up, then moved onto Tori's.

Once we were all going back in for a final sweep, Phoebe went absolutely still for five whole seconds before giving Simon a hard shove between the shoulder blades, sending him through the doorway of the room.

"Get inside, stay there." She snapped at us, simply leaping over the rail and landing lightly on the ground.

Tori and I spun around, watching her take off toward the edge of the woods. And then he stepped out.

He was tall and lanky with wiry muscles. He was only wearing a pair of ripped and dirty black jeans, no shoes, no shirt, not even socks. He had black hair that was a mess with what could've been leaves or twigs wrapped in it. His whole body was taut as a bow string.

_Or maybe, _ I thought, looking into his dark brown, dangerous looking eyes, _he's the arrow. _

"Who…is that?" Tori asked, gaping.

"That's Zane." Tobias said grimly, having teleported beside us.

"_That_ is the boy she could've chosen instead of Simon?"

"She likes Simon." I pointed out a little sharply.

"But still…look at him." Tori said, shivering.

"What do we do?" I asked, ignoring Tori's attitude.

Simon came out of the room with James and Ava just as Phoebe and the boy –Zane –started fighting, they didn't even speak.

My jaw dropped.

Clearly, when we'd seen the bird kids fighting the Edison Group people, we weren't seeing them fighting at their best. Zane seemed impossibly fast, and very vicious. He went for her throat everytime he could, eyes flat and hard. Phoebe danced easily away, like she didn't want to fight him, but not completely backing away- she wanted to protect us more than she didn't want to hurt Zane.

I heard a distant growl and noticed Derek beside Tobias, his whole body tensed and focused now on the fight below us.

"What's the matter?" I whispered, leaning around Tobias, who didn't even notice me- he was watching his sister.

"He's a werewolf…" Derek shrugged stiffly, trying to relax. "It bothers me."

"Yes, well us-" I stopped as Phoebe took a hit to the chest, stumbling back and gasping heavily until she regained her balance- and breath.

**Phoebe**

"I don't want to hurt you, Zane, buddy, but I will." She said, trying to hide the fact that inside, she was hurting. His eyes were so blank and so empty.

"I have to kill you first. Then your brother."

"Zane, do you really think you'll be able to catch Tobias? He teleports." She sighed, shaking her head as she dodged yet another kick aimed at her legs. Something flickered through his other wise cold eyes, but it was gone too fast for Phoebe to guess what it was.

"I'll kill you first- but you can watch from the other side to see how I take care of Tobias."

He almost sounded like himself there, except that the old him would never try to hurt Tobias, especially since hurting Tobias would only hurt Phoebe.

Finally, tears of rage and sadness and loss in her eyes, Phoebe threw herself into the fight, hitting him hard in the gut, then the face, feeling his knuckles glance off her cheekbone painfully. Somehow he managed to get behind her, arms going around her neck, about to snap it. Phoebe smashed and twisted the heel of her boot on his bare toes. A childish, yet effective move- he yelped and shoved away from her, dancing away. He scowled when they were face to face again.

"I thought you were trained better than that, Phoebe." He taunted, circling her.

"I was trained to win no matter what."

She circled with him, not willing to let him have her back again. She saw his legs tense and moved just in time to avoid him lunging at her. He rolled to his feet with ease and grace borne of predatory muscles. She'd had to train hers, and it was worth it now.

"You know, if you're such a big bad wolf, how do you keep missing me?" she asked tauntingly, dodging and ducking again.

When he pinned her, her eyes widened to alarming extent. It was never good to be pinned by a predator. She struggled and wiggled, but he already had his hands around her throat, opting for strangulation rather than a quick death. Phoebe flicked her wrist weakly, one of his hands shooting back –it was enough. She pushed his other hand off and got dizzily –but quickly –to her feet, blinking to clear the fog that had rolled into her brain.

"So close…why don't you just let me finish it, Phoebe? You know you're tired." He said, his voice still alien.

"I am that." She admitted, stepping four feet back when he moved forward. "But that's no reason to give up so easily."

"You're just making this more difficult when it'll end the same."

"No," a new voice said, "it won't."

Phoebe simply shut her eyes when Tobias teleported between them. Behind his back he held her hunting knife, waggling it so she'd take it. She darted forward and grabbed the handle, holding it to her leg so Zane wouldn't see it.

"Nice to see you again, Zane. You've gotten bigger." Tobias commented as he circled to draw Zane's attention from Phoebe.

Zane's dark eyes followed her instead of Tobias—until Tobias teleported within a foot of Zane, then back. He was the easier prey, really. It was logical of the predator to go for him.

He lunged, and Phoebe dived at him, pinning him down and raising the knife. Tobias snatched it, turend Zane's head, and sliced through layers of skin, plucking the bloody chip out. Phoebe stared at her brother in shock. Zane groaned, eyes closing.

**Well….there it is. Finished. Thanks for reading! I know it's shorter than the rest, and I apologize for that….**


	6. SORRY4Wait

**Chapter Six, 3rd POV**

Together, James and Tobias brought Zane's limp body inside the hotel room. Tobias made sure to put him on his stomach so that they could bandage the back of his neck. Phoebe watched with a blank expression that worried Tobias, but he didn't say anything, yet. Her face was pale as water, but there was nothing he could do about it. _Yet._

After Zane was bandaged, Tobias turned to the flock. James was grinning wickedly, Ava was smiling. Tobias himself felt more relaxed now. Derek and Chloe were staring at the werewolf laying on the bed, eyes wide; Derek did _**NOT**_ look pleased. Tori and Simon wore what could have been twin expressions of distrust

"Why the hell did you do that, Tobias?" Phoebe snapped, hands on her hips.

"I couldn't let you kill him, Phoebe." He said with a shrug. "It'd just bother you more."

"_Bother_...great word..." Tori rolled her eyes.

"Let's get to a new hotel." Phoebe finally said, not looking at Zane.

Tobias frowned at her, then at the dark haired boy on the bed. He jumped when Zane's eyes opened. He looked around for a moment before landing on Tobias. Recognition flared up; Zane was back.

"Tobias?" he choked, sitting up. His eyes rolled back a little before righting themselves. "Phoebe." He looked down at his knees. He didn't say anything else.

Phoebe said tightly, "Let's just go."

"Your nose is bleeding." Chloe said softly, handing her some tissue.

"Thanks."

Phoebe left the group to scope the area. Zane hadn't said a word the whole time, but she knew he was observing everything by the way his eyes would focus on whoever was talking. Every time Derek moved at all, he would go tense, but otherwise, he steered clear of the other werewolf. The new hotel was in a new state- not that it was too far, as they'd been close to the state line at the time.

"Look at this..." Phoebe murmured, grinning.

Sure, everything was going to crap, Zane was back, and everyone was in shock- but here was a gym. Phoebe took her knife out and picked the lock, then sneaked in quietly. The lights were off, but she could fix that.

First she explored the place- the biggest room was just a gym with blue mats on the floor; then the locker/shower rooms, and weight rooms. There was a pool, but it was empty of water.

And, from the fliers Phoebe read, the gym was closed for two weeks. She grinned to herself and headed back to the hotel.

"Did you break in?" Simon asked, frowning.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." She shrugged a little impatiently, twisting her fingers through his and pulling him. She'd dragged him outside to tell him, ask him if he thought they could use it during the day. And, okay, she wanted alone time with him.

"I guess we could use it. If it's closed." Simon said, reluctantly, as she led him through the places she'd been.

"Yeah. We could use it." She repeated, changing her tone of voice to see what he thought.

She felt his pulse quicken through his wrist and grinned.

"Uhm-hm." He said a little breathlessly.

"Come here, I want to show you some of my favorite moves."

"Fighting?" Simon asked, sounding disappointed.

"Something like that." She grinned wickedly, pulling him into the area with the mats.

When they went back to the hotel, it was clear that they'd been...wrestling: hair mussed, lips red and wet, cheeks flushed, clothes rumpled, still holding each other tightly. Tobias raised his eyebrow, eyes narrowing just a little dangerously. Phoebe narrowed hers back, leaning over to kiss Simon again.

A growl reverberated through the room; everyone turned to see Zane on his feet, body tense and eyes a riotous storm of fury. Phoebe raised her eyebrows expectantly at him.

"Yes?" She asked, drawing the word out. His eyes snapped to her, losing the fury, gaining indignation.

"Why did you do that?" he asked clumsily, then snarled at himself. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I _like_ Simon." She said, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Alright, big guy. Let's go duke out the rest of this outside." Simon stiffened next to her, turning to face her. "I'll be alright, and we're not really going to fight. Unless he wants to." She shrugged. "No skin off my back if he does."

"There could be." He said quietly.

"Hah!" She let herself be amused for a moment. "I'll be fine." She leaned forward so her lips touched his with every word as she said, "Are you saying I can't take care of myself?"

"_No_...of course not."

"Because that's kind of cute." She grinned when he tried to press closer. "I'll be back. Come on, old friend, let's take a _walk_."

Outside, Zane followed too closely for comfort, breathing deeply, like he was sniffing her. It was weird, and she moved away insistently. He reached for her.

"Don't touch me." She said coldly.

"Phoebe. Come on. You know I wasn't doing that on purpose. I didn't mean it." He said, his voice just so familiar, like when they would hang out as kids.

"It's not that. You think I don't know what it was like, Zane? _You think I don't know?_ Because I _do._ I did everything you did." She turned around to see him, shaking her head. "I wasn't spared anything."

"I don't think you had to do everything I did." He said, and something in his eyes just looked devastated. "Because I had to do somethings that were..."

Phoebe frowned deeply. "What did you have to do?"

He shook his head. "That's not what we were talking about. I don't want to talk about it." He took a breath, as if gathering his mad, and said, "Why were you doing that to me?" But he didn't _sound_ mad, instead just hurt, but he was never hurt, so she had to look into his eyes to see for sure.

"Zane." Her tone was scolding. "I wasn't doing anything to _you._"

"You can't actually like him." He was baffled, literally couldn't _fathom_ her actually liking someone like Simon.

"Why can't I?" she asked, tilting her head. "He's sweet, he's tough and he can fight, he likes me, I _really_ like him." She ticked them off on her fingers. Zane shook his head.

"You can't like him because he's _nothing_ like you. You _aren't_ sweet, Phoebe. You can fight better than _him_ any day."

"How do you know?" She challenged. "You've never seen him fight."

Zane snorted a laugh. "His coordination is off; I've studied him all afternoon. His muscles are barely developed, he can't even move quietly, and-"

Phoebe kneed him in the stomach, then when he keeled over, she grabbed a fistful of his silky hair (hair that her nerve endings recognized immediately). "Who gives you the right to judge people like that, Zane? Like you haven't done disgusting things." She shook her head and shoved him to the ground. "You're a real asshole."

"Only because I'm right." He choked, getting up onto his knees.

"You're _not_ right. He's perfectly normal in his coordination, his muscles _are_ developed, and I would know," she grinned savagely at him, "and if he has to, he can move quietly." That may have been a _tiny_ fib, but she wanted to defend Simon.

"He's a _sorcerer_." Zane scoffed.

Phoebe took a step back. "What does that mean?"

"That's _all_ he is, Phoebe. Just a sorcerer."

"Yeah, so?" she asked, bitingly.

Zane tilted his head, blinking at her for just a moment. Then he laughed. "Okay, okay. Alright. I understand. I'll back off."

She was too paranoid to relax, but she nodded. "Are we friends, Zane? Because you were my best friend, and I missed you." She took a breath. "I don't know what they made you do, but I know what they made me do, and it was horrible. _So_." She touched his shoulder. "I know part of what's haunting you."

He caught her hand before she could pull it away. "You always could read me." He smiled a little.

"Do you need to run tonight?" She asked impassively, pulling her hand away.

"No." His face went quizzical. "I don't _think_ I do."

She raised her eyebrows. "How do you not know?"

"I'll go anyway."

"Don't go too far this time." _She_ smiled a little now. "Maybe I should send Derek with you-"

"_**No.**_ I don't need a babysitter, Phoebe, and don't try to mother over me. I can take care of myself." He snapped, surging to his feet, towering over her. She took a cool step back.

"Well, fine. I'll be inside."

"Wait, Phoebe-"

"_You don't need a babysitter, Zane, and I won't try to mother over you_." She mocked, going back to the hotel. Simon met her on the stairs. She seared him with a glare. He froze.

"I couldn't hear you guys. I was just watching." He said, holding his hands up. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"...I...you..." She took a breath, thought about it, and settled beside him on the step, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Alright."

"Alright?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes, alright." She took another breath. "You watched all of it?"

"I saw you drop him on his ass." He offered, laughing when she laughed.

"I did, in fact, drop him."

"Why?"

"Why what?" she evaded.

"Why'd you drop him? I thought you guys were friends."

She hesitated, then said, "He was asking why I was with you."

"Oh. Did you answer?"

"I said it was because you were sweet, and that I liked you."

Simon snickered. "Wow, thanks for that."

Phoebe drew herself back. "Well, it's mostly because of your stellar good looks."

"Really?"

"Of course. I'm only with you for your body."

"Of course." He said, grinning at her.

She smiled, felt a melting inside her. He really was just so sweet. "He was just being...insulting, as Zane can be."

"Maybe all werewolves are like that..."

"No, Zane knows what he's doing. He's doing it on purpose. He likes to get under people's skin."

"Well, then he's just an ass."

"That I can agree with."

"Simon?" Derek was leaning over the rail, looking down at them. "Where did...the other kid go?"

"He's going for a run." Phoebe hesitated. "He told me not to send you to check on him..." she bit her lip. "The last time he went for a run he was captured..." she was talking to herself, but Derek heard.

"I would." He said after a moment, then shook his head. "I really would, Phoebe, but we probably shouldn't be alone."

"Thanks, but I wouldn't ask you to." She beamed what she knew was a creepy smile at him. "I'll just wait on the roof."

Before anyone could protest, she flew straight up in the air, flapping her wings impressively. She wasn't going into the woods to physically watch over Zane, but at least she could be here to make sure he didn't try to call for help. Because, even though he was being a jerk, he was part of her flock, just like she was part of his pack. They couldn't help it; it was nature.

"_**Everybody up!**_" Phoebe shouted, tapping her knuckles on foreheads, knocking her boot against ankles, whipping blankets off surprised supernatural kids.

"What the hell is your problem, Fee?" James asked, yawning hugely. He shuddered and reached around. He sat bolt upright, looking around. "Where's Ava?" he asked in alarm, and Phoebe could see his pulse thumping in his throat.

"Calm down, she's in the shower." Phoebe said, touching the top of his head. He relaxed.

"Jesus, she shouldn't do that to me, the brat." He scowled. "Where's the food?"

Zane kicked the door open, carrying bags of steaming food. "Here."

Tobias woke up next, then Tori, Chloe, and Derek. Simon was still out cold. Phoebe got a little panicky, because he usually woke up as soon as someone shook him. She couldn't help glancing accusingly at Zane, who was passing out food. Chloe took hers and looked at it with wide eyes; it was a huge portion. Derek snatched it, sniffing at it for a moment before handing it back; she gave him an arch look and he shrugged. It was a cute little exchange.

"Simon, get up. We're going to the gym after breakfast." Phoebe said, leaning close to him. His eyes fluttered open and focused on her.

"I had the _weirdest_ dream." He informed her, shaking his head.

"Really." She sat beside his sleeping spot. "Tell me about it before we join the feeding horde." She jerked her head back at them. "You'd better save us some!" She shouted over her shoulder.

"I will." Zane answered.

"_Both_ of us." She countered; Zane grunted noncommittally, but Derek moved four breakfast sets off to the side, nodding at Phoebe.

"It wasn't really—it was nothing." Simon said, sitting up and yawning. He wiped at his eyes, then, flushing a little, wiped drool that was, to Phoebe, more endearing than gross, off of his chin.

"Come on." She bumped his knee with hers. "Tell me."

He ducked his head and mumbled, "I'll tell you later. There are four other people in here with super-hearing—five if you include Ava in the bathroom." Something in his voice when he said that...

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing—no secrets with super-hearing." He smiled grimly.

"Do you _want_ to keep secrets?" she asked, baffled.

"That's not how I meant it."

"Right...let's eat, I'm starving." She started to stand, but he tugged on her long ponytail.

"Why don't you wear it down?"

"I will later, after we're done at the gym." She grinned and leaned close. "And maybe we'll share some secrets of our own later," she breathed, then stood up. She could practically feel Simon's eyes on her back—or maybe her hips, but it didn't really matter—as she walked toward the others.

Derek grinned at her, and it was a startling change in expression from what she was used to. She didn't think of anyone's looks as _them_ at any normal time, and she hadn't really thought of what Derek looked like besides identifying things: black hair, green eyes, broad chest, tall. The grin just made her realize that he was, in fact, handsome. Of course, she'd noticed this before, but only when he was looking at Chloe.

"Yep, eat it up." She said, picking up her pancakes. "It's all fun and games until _someone_ gets some _incriminating_ photo proof on _someone else's_ late night escapades. Laugh it up." Chloe snickered when Derek flushed.

"There is no hiding from the Fee." Tobias announced, shoveling eggs into his mouth. "Phoebe is my sweet little sister, but the Fee is the evil spy with a very creative imagination."

"Yes." James agreed. "They came to visit once," he shuddered. "It was terrible."

"Oh, shut-up. You shouldn't have been doing _that_ with your little sister around, anyway." Phoebe scoffed.

"Little sister?" Chloe asked in interest, looking toward the bathroom where Ava was.

"Missy's her name. She's at home with our...parents." James said, face twisting on the word _parents._ Phoebe knew he didn't get along with them...at all.

"Oh. Will we see her when we go down?" Chloe asked.

Everyone saw _some_ emotion ripple across James's face, though they didn't know what, exactly, it was; pain, fury, both, simple anger?

"Drop it." Tori said frostily. Her hand was gripping James's hand, fingers locked. It interested Phoebe to see that James had his fingers locked right back, which was an oddity.

"Hmm..." Phoebe said out loud, then smiled at Ava when she came out of the bathroom. Her black curls were springy and wet. "Breakfast over here, Avie." She looked around. "Who's next?"

Tobias stood without a word and grabbed his backpack and headed for the bathroom. Phoebe frowned after him; he seemed odd since Zane had been...recovered. But then, they were all weird since Zane returned. She was _not_ one to talk.

After breakfast, they went to the gym discreetly, entering one at a time. Phoebe had been anxious as to who went first and who went last; she assigned Zane outside and went in first.

"Clear, come on in." She called, flicking the lights on.

She had on cotton shorts and a tight tank top. She'd bought Chloe, Tori, and Ava the same types of outfits and let them change into them this morning. Tori wouldn't be participating, but she could be comfortable. The guys had on shorts, too, and t-shirts.

"Shoes off!" Phoebe called, pacing in front of them. "If you're going to play, then you put your hair up or back." She flicked a hair tie at Chloe, who caught it and put her hair up. She did the same to Ava. "Okay, I'll show you what I can do. Zane, front and center." She looked directly at Simon, grinned. "We are going to show you what _exactly_ we can do."

"And then?" Derek asked.

"And then we see how well that training the other day stuck." She said in her "class leader" voice. She loved it, felt like the bossiest little bee. "Right now is demonstration time." She walked in front of Zane, feeling suddenly like it was a year ago, maybe more, and they were practicing in the local gym, honing their skills to gain control over their own bodies. It was an awesome feeling.

"Ready, babe?" Zane asked, just loud enough for Simon to hear.

"Only if you are, _sweetheart_." She snarled it, baring her teeth.

Things got interesting. She loved the freedom it gave her, to _**wail**_ on him with all her strength, not worrying about hurting him permanently, not worrying about killing him, just thinking: _Must. Win._

She didn't mind when his fist caught her in the cheek- she just got another reason to hit harder, move faster, kick him _harder_. It was the most fun she'd had in a while, and she didn't want it to end quickly, so when he dropped into a crouch, she laughed joyously, beckoning him. He dove at her and they both tumbled to the ground, grunting and hitting as hard as they could, no restrictions.

Finally, when Phoebe had pinned Zane to the ground, they were dripping in sweat, panting, and still struggling a little, Tobias blew a whistle.

"That's all, boys and girls." He said, sounding irritated.

Phoebe wasn't done, but she had a good idea of where her aggressive energy could go, and with that in mind, she was on her feet and running at Simon immediately. He raised his eyebrows, but held his arms out for her, which she greatly appreciated, though when she jumped on him, she wrapped her legs securely around his waist, holding his face in her hands and kissing him deeply, even as she tried her damnedest to catch her breath. She felt Simon stumble back a step before he put his hands under her thighs to hold her, kissing back enthusiastically.

Vaguely, she heard someone clear their throat, but she didn't care, because Simon was holding her, and his hands were moving over her, because she didn't need him to hold her up, she was strong enough to do that herself, and his tongue was dancing over hers enticingly.

"_Fee,_" Tobias scolded.

James laughed, "We need our teacher, Simon. Get your tongue out of her mouth."

Snickers erupted when Phoebe pulled back, glancing at them in irritation. She felt Simon's thumbs rubbing lazy circles in her hips, even as he was breathing heavily and his heart was thumping, like hers was.

"Alright, shut up the snickering. Tobias, run them through exercises while I go clean this sweat off me real quick." She said, dropping down and pecking Simon one last time.

Simon watched her walk away with longing in his gut. Tobias ordered everyone to pair off, except Tori, who was sitting down with her injury, and looking pissed about it.

"Chloe, I know it irritates you, but it'd be best if you and Ava were teamed up, because-" Tobias started.

"I know, I know, she's more my height..." Chloe mumbled. She smiled at Ava, though, and shifted to the stance that Phoebe had taught them all. Tobias and Derek paired off, leaving Zane and Simon together.

Zane took one look at Simon before shifting to stand next to him. "I'm like Phoebe." He said steadily. "You aren't. Phoebe's tough, a fighter, and you're just trying to get by. I'm not worried because she'll realize that soon and see who she belongs to."

"With," Simon said quietly, in an emotionless voice. "Who she belongs _with._" Zane just grinned at him before walking away.

**Chloe POV**

Phoebe had us train hard, but she was fair about it. She encouraged us, yelled at us, and rewarded us when we did well. We left when she thought we were getting the hang of everything, and started driving.

Within four days, we finally arrived in James hometown. He seemed, at first, just happy, like usual, but after an hour or so driving closer to his actual home, he got nervous, anxiety making him squirm and withdraw from Tori and Ava, even. He shifted when anyone tried to touch him, and he declined food offerings. After awhile, Phoebe stopped talking to him, and everyone took the cue from her. Zane was the only one remotely comfortable, and he seemed to be doing so only to annoy Phoebe, who he was sitting beside; Simon was on her other side, and she was leaning on him, blinking her eyes tiredly, a lot.

"I wonder how this is going to help." I said softly to Derek. We were sitting in the far back, our fingers twisted together unconsciously.

"I don't know. But I hope it _does_, instead of just being a waste of time." He said, sounding frustrated. "I hope it's worth it..." His voice was quiet, then, as if he didn't want anyone to hear.

"I think it will be. Phoebe wouldn't waste time."

"I know _that_," he said, sounding amused.

"Derek?"

"Hm?"

"Can you kiss me? You haven't, in a while." I flushed a little, feeling stupid. "I don't know—I'm s-sorry, I-" He smiled at me, then, making my words stop in my throat.

"You don't have to ask me twice." He said, still amused as he leaned down to put his lips on mine. I sighed against his mouth, reaching up to curl my fingers in his hair and pull myself as close as possible in the cramped back seat of the van. I hitched my leg across his hips, then wiggled until I was in his lap, and his arms came up to hold me, which just felt right, like it always did.

"That's cute." I ignored the voice, the amused tone of it. I wasn't sure who spoke, but someone laughed afterward, and Derek pulled back to say, "Yeah, well I didn't see you showing any restraint in the gym."

"We did have more room in the gym," Simon pointed out.

Annoyed, I said, "We let you guys have a few minutes." Then when he let out a loud laugh, I smiled, because it was funny. And what else could you expect from a group of traveling teenagers, really? We may have been mature for our ages, but that didn't mean we weren't somewhat normal.

"Tobias, can you take me to my house?" James asked, making everyone jump. "The other one—not the place I usually stay when you visit."

Tobias was quiet for a moment before saying softly, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Please."

The house Tobias drove us to was small, but normal. Just a house. The shrubs out front needed watering, and the yard was brown, but I could say that the heat probably had something to do with that. The front of the house itself could have used a coat of paint, but otherwise, I wouldn't have even looked twice at it. James got out of the van first and went straight to the door.

"Don't get out yet." Phoebe said quickly. "I just have to warn you guys that James has...issues with his stepfather and it often comes to blows." She shook her head. "Dell Marks is a jerk-off, but James's mother got custody of the kids, so they have to live with him." She sighed. "Thank God James finally hit back after awhile."

Eyes wide, I climbed out of the car with Derek. Tobias, Phoebe, Ava and Zane led the way inside, not pausing to knock, so we just followed. I helped Tori, who was hobbling a bit. She claimed her foot was asleep, but it was the same leg that had been injured, so I assumed it was pain, but didn't point it out.

Inside, I saw something that I'd never really seen before, never thought of. James was frozen in the middle of the living room. A woman with dark hair that was caught between blond and brown was asleep –or unconscious –on the couch, and she probably used to be gorgeous, except that she was alcoholic-thin, now, with bruises and cuts on her face.

"Jaime," Phoebe started, but at that moment, a girl –probably fifteen –stumbled from the back of the house, panting heavily, running from whatever was chasing her.

Her shorts were ripped, her tank top falling off of one shoulder. Her face was red from being hit, but beneath it, she had the beauty that had faded in the first woman, who I assumed was her mother. James caught her before she fell, just as a man with a beer gut, no shirt, and undone pants followed her. He froze at the sight of us.

"Missy..." James said softly, sitting the girl down. "What did he do to you?"

"He—he-" she was having trouble getting the words out. "He's done it before, not first time, always, always, Momma out, asleep..."

My eyes bulged in fear, and I stumbled back a step when the man eyed me. Phoebe nudged me, Tori, and Ava back, where Simon and Derek were standing, unnoticed, in the door way.

"You sick son of a bitch." James was standing now. His eyes had gone flat, and that was odd, I'd never seen quite that gleam in someone's eye. I realized quite suddenly that the gleam had a name: murder.

Before anyone could do anything, James was on the man, and the man's clothes were smoldering, James was punching him.

"My baby sister, I'll fucking kill you, you sick fucker, she's fifteen fucking years old, what, ain't you getting enough from my Momma?" He snarled between punches. "Just wait till you get to hell, you pussy bitch."

I couldn't remove my eyes from the violence in front of me, and that's a shock. I swallowed bile when I noticed that James's hands were already covered in blood and that the man was already unconscious, and that there were burns on him.

"Chloe, Chloe, _Chloe_." I heard Derek's voice, distantly. Finally, though, he moved into my line of sight, crouching so we were eye-level. "Look at me, _at me_, not at them." His green eyes were straight in front of me, and I focused on them.

"Did he—did he—is he dead?" I managed, trying to look over his shoulder. He shifted so I couldn't.

"No, Zane just pulled him off, Phoebe's talking to Missy." He said in a soft, soothing voice. Simon made some move beside me, like he didn't know whether to go help or just hang back, but then he decided and went to stand beside Phoebe, who I could see was talking soothingly to Missy as she righted her clothes.

"James..." I said, trying to shake the shock from my brain. I'd seen things already, seen worse things. "Is he okay?"

Derek let me look, and what I saw was someone more in shock than me. He was sitting against the wall, looking blindly at his bloodied hands, breathing rapidly.

Tori took one look, as well, and went to him. I watched as she sat in front of him, between his knees, which were bent upward. He listened to her with those blank eyes for a moment before suddenly rearing forward and grabbing her, holding her tight to him, pressing his face to her neck and trembling visibly.

"I don't..." I swallowed hard, but still couldn't continue. Derek hesitantly touched my shoulder, but that was all it took for me to tumble into his arms. It all happened pretty quick, but I understood too many things, many more than I wanted to.

The man had hurt James's sister in more than one way, and more than once.

James was going to kill him. Kill lights in the eyes and everything. He wouldn't have stopped.

I could still be shocked by normal human cruelty.

"Is she okay?" Phoebe's voice was close to Derek's shoulder. I felt him nod as his hand stroked, a little clumsily—which was, like usual, endearing—down my hair.

"Alright. Zane, drag that sicko to the back of the house." Phoebe instructed. "Tori, please, keep James there. Tobias, take Ava outside._Now_!" She snapped when her brother hesitated. "Derek, Chloe, go with them."

"No," I heard myself say, as if from afar. "No, we'll stay in here." I moved away from Derek, enough so that I could look at Phoebe. She hesitated, then nodded.

"Alright. Simon, please stay with Missy until I'm done." After speaking, she marched right over to the phone and snapped it up, dialing swiftly. "Hello, Mr. Montgomery." She said in a semi-normal tone. "It's Phoebe. Yeah, Phoebe Watson. I'm good, thanks. Yes, James is back, and that's what I'm calling about. It's about Dell and Missy, really. Yes, it's an emergency. He...Dell was...hurting...Missy."

From where I was sitting, I could hear Mr. Montgomery shout something, probably a swear word, and I heard something crash from the other side of the phone. Phoebe didn't wince or pull back; her face was impassive. He seemed more calm when he spoke to her again.

"Yes sir. He's unconscious. No, James got to him. I understand. We'll stay here until you get here. Thank you." She hung up the phone, then tilted her head. "Please stay here a moment." She said, before nimbly slipping by and out the door before Derek could try to stop here. "Who are you?"

"Phoebe, you don't recognize me? It's Bo." A male voice said, sounding a little wounded.

"_Bowen_ ?" Phoebe's voice was incredulous. "Wow. Wow. It's been awhile. Okay, do you have what we need?"

"Yeah, sure, in my bag. Hey, is Missy here? And James?" he added hastily.

"Come inside." She said softly.

The boy she led inside was probably the same height as James, but more broad shouldered, with some interesting muscles on his arms. He had work goggles around his neck and smelled of sawdust and a little bit of sweat. He had a tumble of brown hair with what looked like sun-stains in it, and under the mess of it were two bright brown eyes.

"Oh, people. Uh. Hi." He said, noticing us and holding his hand out first to Derek, then to me. We shook, and I tried not to be first annoyed that his hand completely folded over mine, then fascinated by the work callouses on his palm. "I'm Bo Reich."

"Hello; I'm Chloe and this is Derek." I said easily, hoping he didn't notice the lack of last names.

He did, immediately; I could see it in his eyes, but he just smiled politely and looked around. When he saw the discord, when he saw Missy, he staggered before rushing to her side and practically throwing Simon to the ground. Derek helped him up.

"Are you okay, what happened, do you need to go to the hospital, where is he?" he asked in a rush.

"I'm okay." She said in a quiet voice. "And I don't need a hospital again, and James kicked his fat, ugly ass."

Bo wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, kissed her forehead. "You see, Miss? That's why I told you to come stay at my place for a few days."

"I'm okay now." She said, this time her voice much louder. "I'm okay." She took a breath. "But James would have killed him if it wasn't for..." she stopped, blinked. "Oh." She stared at Zane for a moment; he'd returned from dragging the man—Dell—away. "Who are you?"

"Missy, that's Zane." Phoebe said softly, kneeling beside Bo. "You remember me, don't you?"

"Of course, Phoebe." She smiled, now, which showed that James's dimples were hereditary. "But I've never met _him._" She jerked her head toward Zane, who remained impassive and quiet through all of this.

"I know." Phoebe said quietly. "Your dad is on the way to get you right now, okay?"

"W-what? No, my dad can't come here, he can't see this." She jumped to her feet, knocking both Bo and Phoebe back, startled. "I have to go change and fix the-"

"Missy, sit down. Calm down. He knows." She said softly, standing to ease the girl back down to the chair. "I told him. It's not your fault, and no one blames you, and your dad is going to take care of things for you, okay?"

"I want to talk to James." Missy said, eyes big and watery. "I want to talk to him _now._"

Phoebe glanced at James, who was still holding tight to Tori. "Alright. I'm going to get him. Bo, would you..." He nodded, settling beside the chair. I watched as Phoebe moved and squatted beside Tori and James, quietly speaking.

James nodded and stood, then went to the kitchen. Dimly, I heard a sink turn on, water running.

"Chloe, let's go." Derek said softly. "We can wait outside or something."

"Not yet..." I protested, even as he was tugging me gently.

Phoebe said something to Bo as we were arguing. He nodded and opened his backpack, pulling out first a thick folder and handing it to her, then some loose sheets, then a rolled piece of drawing paper. He spoke very quietly to her, pointing to each one in turn.

"Thanks." She said softly.

"Chloe," Derek said insistently.

"I'm coming." I replied, turning to look up at him.

James entered the room again, hands clean. Tori sat on the ground, and Simon sat with her. Zane kept watch from the hall, obviously listening for signs of life from the bedroom where he'd dumped that...man, for lack of better word. Phoebe was talking to Bo, who was trying not to listen to the conversation James and his little sister were having.

Outside, Tobias was just spreading his wings when we walked off the porch. Ava was already in the air. I waved to her, and she happily waved back with both hands.

"Look what I can do, Chlo—_eeeee_!" She did a steep dive that had my heart clutching in my chest before she pulled up sharply.

"Ah, that's great, Ava." I said breathlessly, hand on my throat. "Good job." I added.

"Stop scaring her, Ava. You know better." Tobias said, launching into the air easily.

I was breathless again, but not in fear. In envy, maybe, or awe. Like when you see a painting by one of the old masters and you just don't have words to describe it.

"Hey, Derek, Chloe?" Phoebe poked her head out. "Can you two get us a room or two? There's an inn close by that we can stay at." She held out a slim black billfold. "There's money in here, enough for a few rooms. Probably." She grimaced. "We'll be out soon. But, if you guys want to toss some morals out the window..." she moved her eyes to Ava, who was doing back flips mid-air. "We'll see." She decided, shrugging. I took the billfold carefully. "And I'll bring dinner later, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks." I said, moving away again. Derek clutched my fingers tightly, but not too tightly.

"Let's go to the inn and then we can talk."

The inn was a cute little country place with spacious rooms. We got two rooms with two full beds each. We were informed that in each room had a couch in it as well. Derek and I went to one of the rooms to talk.

"I just don't...I mean..." I took a breath to calm myself. "I'm sorry, what happened has my tongue all tied up."

"I know what you mean, though. It was bad." He said softly, looking at me. We were sitting on the couch together. "I don't wish him to be dead, of course, but I'm sort of glad that James did what he did."

"I don't like violence, either, but he deserved it." I shuddered. "That was horrible." Derek tugged my arm until he had his arms wrapped around me. I felt myself shaking and tried, really _tried _to stop, but it didn't help that Derek was offering comfort. So I pushed back. "I'm okay. I swear." I worked up a smile for him that I know he didn't believe.

"Maybe I could distract you." He said musingly, and before I could ask what he was talking about, he'd reached out and grabbed me, pulling me to him and kissing me breathless. I sighed and shivered, but pressed closer, my lips clinging to him as much as my hands were, though my hands were racing over his chest, pushing at his shirt instinctively; I wanted to feel his warm flesh, which was odd, but not too odd. He shifted a little and we were horizontal on the couch, legs tangled and breath mingling.

I ran my hands through his hair, then fisted them in it and pulled his head back sharply so I could play my lips over his throat, which made him moan and push his lips back to mine.

"Uh, I—we should..." Derek gasped, pulling back. But I insistently pulled him toward me. "Chloe..." he all but whined.

"Derek..." I breathed, biting his bottom lip. He shuddered, hands pressing against my waist even as we pressed together everywhere else.

He jumped suddenly, then rolled off of me. I was left on my back, gasping, my shirt scrunched up around my ribs.

"I have to—I've got to—I'm going to run." He said, face bright red. "I'll be right back, don't leave, don't open the door, I'll take a key." He babbled.

"Wait—you don't want me to go with you?" I asked, sitting up and still trying to catch my breath.

"No, God, please just stay here."

Hurt, I looked away. "Alright," I mumbled.

"Chloe, I just...you're going to drive me crazy, I'll explain when I get back." He slammed the door behind him in his rush to get out.

So, I'd been rejected...kind of. Because at that point, I wouldn't have stopped him. Maybe that was why he stopped us, but I doubt it. I have a feeling he would have stopped us first, even before I could, because he _always_ did.

"Stop your whining and do something useful." I mumbled to myself, and closed my eyes to call Liz.

She arrived more quickly than usual, and I couldn't help being proud of myself.

"Hey, Chloe." She said, smiling at me. Then she frowned. "What's wrong? Are you sick? Your cheeks are flushed."

"I'm fine." I said, then I looked into her concerned eyes, the eyes of a friend, and suddenly everything that had happened so far in the day burst out of me. She listened easily, nodding and clucking in sympathy.

"I'm sorry. Poor Missy." She sighed and pulled her knees to her chest. "And it seems like Derek was just as upset as you were, which is probably why he left."

"He didn't leave." I mumbled. "He went to Change."

A wicked glint entered her eyes, one that I didn't recognize. "Maybe he had some excess energy and..._tension_ to burn off." We burst into giggles at the thought. I didn't think that, but it was possible, as Liz clearly thought.

"I was wondering if you could check in on Aunt Lauren and Kit. Please." My throat was tight, but I forced the words out.

"Sure. I'll be right back."

Ten minutes later I was pacing restlessly, waiting for her to arrive, or Derek to arrive, or _something_. But neither happened. I could have gone out to check on Derek, but then if Liz came back, she'd wonder where I'd gone, and if I stayed here waiting, it could be longer. Then again, I could always call Liz back, but then what if she hadn't—

"Chloe, they're alright." I jumped and yelped, gasping as I whirled around to see Liz. "Oh, sorry, I thought you were expecting me."

"I was—I just...you startled me." I stated obviously. "So they're okay?"

"They're being questioned, but it's not really threatening. The scientists are asking questions about the bird kids." Liz ducked her head. "I mean Phoebe and the others."

"What were they asking?"

For the rest of the time that Derek was gone, Liz and I went over the inquisition. That was what had taken her so long, because she was listening in on all the questions.

**Phoebe 3rd POV**

"Let's wait outside, guys." She said when Mr. Montgomery arrived. He stormed in furious, but he softened immediately upon seeing his daughter and son together, both of them in states of discord.

Zane cornered her on the porch before everyone else could come out.

"Why aren't you leaving him? I get that the reason you're with him is because he's normal—in your mind, at least—and that's what you want for now, but-"

"_Excuse_ me?" Phoebe demanded sharply.

"Oh, Phoebe. We both know that the only reason you're with him," he jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward Simon as he stepped onto the porch, "is because he's an average supernatural, nothing different or special like us."

"You're wrong." She said softly, taking Simon's hand and lead the way off the porch. "Don't get upset about what he said, he's just a jealous child."

"I'm not."

"Well, you're acting weird." She shut her mouth after that, then said, "I'm sorry. I just meant that you're being strange since we got here."

"Sorry." He shrugged. "Let's take a walk," he said, glancing over his shoulder at Tobias and Ava, who both had their heads tilted toward them, listening.

"Alright, sure."

Once they were down the drive and a little ways down the street Simon stopped, carefully removing his hand from Phoebe's. She stiffened her spine in defense, blanking her face.

"Look, Phoebe, I just...I want to know...I have to know..."

"What?" she asked in a cold, blank voice. Simon blinked in surprise, then took a breath.

"I have to know if you're going to be with Zane. If you're going to dump me for him sooner or later, when you get bored of me or whatever. Or if you're using me to annoy him."

Tears stung Phoebe's eyes. "I'm not-"

"Just tell me if you want to be with him instead of me."

"Oh, Simon..." tears rolled down her cheeks. "I love him."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Phoebe POV 3rd **

Simon stared at her as if he'd been hit. Phoebe swallowed and wiped at her eyes.

"Simon..." she said, wondering how she could explain. He just shook his head and took a few steps back, linking his hands behind his head as he walked away from her. "Simon, just listen to me, please."

Simon got mad, whirling back to face her and shouting, "No, Phoebe. I don't want to play games with you and your friend."

Phoebe had a temper too, even though her eyes were dripping tears, still. "I'm not trying to play games with you, Simon! Zane has been my best friend since I was really young." She took a breath when she saw that he was listening; impatient, but listening. "I said that I love him, and I do." He threw his hands up and stalked away again. Furiously, Phoebe followed him, making him listen, at least. "I love him like I love James and Ava." She took a breath. "But I never said that I was in love with him, like I am with you." Her eyes widened at her blabber mouth and her face flushed red. She threw her hands over her mouth and turned around, starting to run away.

Simon caught her arm just a little roughly and yanked her back. "You can't say that kind of thing and leave, Phoebe!"

"What do you _want_ from me?" She shouted, wiping her eyes and shaking his hand off. "I told you what was going on and you're _still_ yelling at me, God!" She hiccuped a sob, wiping her eyes again furiously when they continued to water.

"I'm not yelling at you," he said softly, reaching to touch her arm.

**Zane (When the argument first starts)**

He tilted his head and watched as Simon and Phoebe argued. He heard what she said, and that made him smile, then he got irritated when she tried to explain it away. Then he growled, loudly, furiously, when she said that she loved _Simon_, and then he was even more furious when Simon grabbed her arm. And he felt cold when she didn't get mad about it herself. She didn't even seem to mind. She just kept talking to him, wiping tears from her eyes. Tears were always hard to come by with Phoebe. They made him furious.

Zane stood up with intentions to go interrupt, but Tobias caught his arm from behind.

"Don't do it, Zane." He sighed. "It's not worth it."

"What are you talking about?" Zane demanded, snarling at him. "He grabbed her. They're fighting."

"No they're not." Ava said sweetly from Tobias's elbow. "They're making up right now."

"Well they shouldn't be." He snapped furiously.

_**It's okay, Zane. We should just walk away and find something else to do...**_ Ava's voice whispered gently in the back of his mind and he was powerless to resist when they led him away.

He watched them take off flying, hands in his pockets. They were amazing. That was something he'd missed out on in his years of torture in the Edison Group lab. He didn't get wings. He wasn't sure where his father was, anymore, and he didn't know where his mother was, hadn't for years, but he wanted, almost more than he wanted Phoebe, to have that freedom for just an hour. Of course, he didn't. He couldn't, and never would.

XXX

At the inn, they had the boys in one room and the girls in another, except to make sure that there was no bloodshed, they had Zane in the girl's room, and Tori went to sleep in the boy's room. James stayed with his sister at their father's house. Bo went home with promises to come back in the morning. Everyone fell into fitful sleeps, the day's activities and sadness and bruises roiling in their heads like a bad storm.

**Phoebe 3rd **

Earlier than even Phoebe was used to waking up, someone knocked on the door. Chloe mumbled from the other bed. Zane was on the couch, and Ava and Phoebe shared the other bed. Phoebe growled and buried her face in her pillow, but no one got up to answer it.

"It's fine, I'll get it." Phoebe grumbled, working her way out of bed and opened the door, scowling. Missy, James, and Bo all stood there, looking fresh and awake. She glowered at them. "What?"

"You look darling like that, Phoebe." James commented, but his usual snark was missing. "Hair all mussed. Did you have a bad night?" He asked, this time genuinely concerned as he examined her face. She glowered.

"I did, in fact." She muttered, shuffling back to let them inside. She yawned hugely and said, "Well, let me shower, then I'll wake the troops. We can get breakfast downstairs." She walked to her bag and glared at the ripped clothes inside. Then she turned to look at Bo, who grinned and held out a plastic bag.

"I'll go give the guys and Tori theirs." James said hollowly. Missy smiled and held up a bag that had a lot of black in it.

"This is for everyone in here. Bo said that you'd need dark colors to do what you had to." She shrugged. "I don't know what you have to do yet, but you'll tell me, won't you, Phoebe?"

Phoebe smiled. She'd always liked Missy. "We'll all tell you, Missy. Wait here. Hey, why don't you wake Chloe. I'm sure she'll like you." She grinned as she walked away.

When she emerged, Chloe was talking groggily with Missy. She shot Phoebe a dark look, then went to the bathroom to change. The clothes Bo had got them were black cargo shorts and a black t-shirt with cap-sleeves. And clean white socks that didn't rise above her ankle-high tanker boots. Phoebe approved. Chloe's clothes were an exact copy, just smaller sizes. Ava stirred a little, mouth open wide and drool dribbling down her chin, curls flopped over her eyes. Phoebe thought it was darling.

"How'd you know our sizes, Bo?" Phoebe asked, grinning as she sat beside Ava, who had also just woke up.

"I'm a good judge." He said vaguely.

"Uh-huh." Chloe said dryly, making Phoebe laugh and Bo blush.

"Yeah, I'm sure _you're a very good judge_. You know," Missy said thoughtfully, "he's almost as popular as James, at school. He was the second most popular guy at school, until James left. Then, well, _everyone_ wanted to date him."

"God, Missy, please _stop_." Bo begged, ducking his face, which was bright red with embarrassment.

When everyone was grudgingly dressed and ready in black cargo's –the guys had pants instead of shorts—and black t-shirts, they went downstairs. And were stopped by a girl working in the place. She had long red hair and dark eyes and extremely red lips. She slapped her palm on James's chest, shooting Tori, who was holding his hand, a dark look.

"Where have you gone off to, Montgomery?" she snapped.

"Ah, hey there, Linda Jo." He said lightly, backing up a step and putting Tori behind him a bit. Bo and Phoebe rolled their eyes toward Missy and grinned.

"Hey yourself, James Montgomery. You think you can just dump me and disappear for a two years and then come back and not say something?"

"Well, that's how a break-up works, dear." He said blandly. "That's why it works. We don't _have_ to say anything to each other."

"Don't get smart with me." She flipped her hair. "I can't stand when people think it's okay to talk to other people that way, especially guys to girls. You think you're in charge, when it's really us. And you didn't even say anything about my hair."

"What about it, dear?" he asked just as blandly.

"Ooh, you bastard." She seethed, her fingers curling to claws, though not lifting.

"I know you dyed it, dear, it's just that I don't pay much mind to those types of things, as you well know." He made his voice extremely slow and extremely southern, and Phoebe was sure he was mocking Linda Jo.

"Oh, I hate you, I really do." She snarled, then noticed Phoebe. She lifted her lip. "Oh. You're back." She made her voice extra sweet as she said, "And just what are you doing here?"

"I'm here with my friends." She gestured at them. "I'm just visiting, Lindy and there's no reason to get hostile."

"Uh-huh. I have no reason to get hostile except that the last time you were here, you put pictures of me and Montgomery all over the school website."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have called me that certain name, Lindy." Phoebe smiled, all sugary and cupcakes.

Linda Jo took notice of Tori; she looked at James and Tori's hands. And growled. "Who's this little tramp?"

"I don't think so." James said very softly. "You can say what you want to me, but don't mess with her and don't even talk to her."

"Shut-up, James." Tori snapped. "She can talk to me if she wants. I think she should think before she does, though, because I don't take insults from redheaded country brats who think it's okay to march into other people's business and call names before she knows what the _tramp_ can do."

Linda Jo glared at her. "Oh, you think you're so tough, city girl? Please. You don't even know him. You think he likes you for you? He probably barely remembers your name. The only thing he wants is in your pants and if you don't hand it over, he'll get bored quickly enough."

Phoebe stayed back and watched when Tori slapped the girl. It was easier that way. Bo winced, but stayed back as well. James stepped in and in front of Tori before Linda Jo could react. He got clawed in the face, but didn't move except to keep between the girls. Tobias took pity on him and tugged Tori back. Zane stepped forward too.

"Alright, that's enough. We're busy, kid, so back up."

"I can't stand you." Linda Jo hissed at James as he stepped in her way again. Then she focused on Zane. She actually flushed. "Hi." She managed.

"Hello," he said blankly, looking just a little bit over her head.

"What's your name?"

"Zane."

"Hi there, Zane." She shot a look at James and ran her hand down Zane's arm. "I do have a thing for dark haired boys." She swept her eyes toward Derek, too, who pulled Chloe closer to his side, almost as if trying to use her as a shield.

_Watch out for the big bad redhead._ Phoebe thought with an eye roll of amusement.

When the drama was over, Bo announced to them that while they'd watched Zane entertainingly flirt with Linda Jo (his was forced, and hers was...friendly) he had talked the manager, a family friend, into letting them use the inn's much-unused meeting room.

"Thanks," he added to the manager, who fluttered her lashes and smiled.

"I'll get the breakfast meal for y'all. I know how much you eat, Phoebe. Yes, I remember you from last time." She said, pinching Phoebe's cheek. "So I'll make sure the cook knows to make a whole bunch."

"Thanks," Phoebe said, a little garbled since Mrs. Harrow hadn't let go of her cheek yet.

"Oh, now, don't you worry about it, darlin'. Just sit on down and make y'all selves comfortable."

Everyone sat down around the table—a long rectangle table, efficient and useful—and looked at Phoebe. She pulled out the papers that Bo had given her. She spread the biggest one.

"Alright, these are the blueprints of the place. It's been changed a bit since you guys were there." Phoebe added, glancing at Chloe, who sat with Derek and Tori. Simon was on Phoebe's right.

She wasn't sure if they were okay, completely, but she knew they were better than they had been when they fought. Zane sat at the far end of the table, listening and watching and not speaking. He was sulking, she knew, but there was nothing she could do about it, and if truth be told, she was more worried about what Simon was feeling; he wasn't showing anything.

"I can see that," Chloe said, looking at it. "What's that?" she pointed to a large, slightly blank area.

"Ahh. The Ava-wing." James said with a low whistle. Ava flushed, ducking her head.

"The...Ava-wing?"

"They tried to keep her as far from any one else as possible, because of her powers. That's where they kept her. They tried to keep her as happy as possible."

"But I wasn't and I wanted to get out. But you said to wait, so I did." Ava said, smiling at Phoebe, who kissed her cheek.

"Yes, you did, sweetie-pie."

"What are these?" Derek said, nudging the other papers. Phoebe nodded for him to open them and spread them on the table.

"Maps and more maps. The blueprint, it shows us exact things, where the exact doors are and where everything is, mechanically and architecturally speaking." Phoebe said. She took one map from Derek. "This map shows us the way we will be going, the paths we take and the escape routes. Our only problem is that we don't know where Lauren and Kit actually are." She put that map aside and took the other one. "This is a map that tells us exactly where the guards are posted." She laid it out so that everyone could see. She took another piece of paper out. "This tells us what those guards can do. The guards are labeled by name and number on the map, and over here, in order, are their stats." She shrugged.

"How did you get all of this?" Derek asked Bo, looking over at him.

He looked down at his hands, shrugging. "I'm just really good with computers, that's all."

"He's a hacker." Missy said brightly. "And he's really good at it." She turned her eyes to him, fluttering her lashes.

"I don't really do anything bad. Just get stuff that people ask me to. I don't change grades, and I don't do government things." Bo said quietly, ducking his head. "I don't like people to know, because they ask for things that I can't do, and they get mad when I tell them I won't." Missy patted his shoulder, then left her hand on his arm. James noticed, Phoebe was sure.

Tobias picked up the map and the paper with statistics, his eyes flicking over them both at an amazing rate. Phoebe knew what he was doing and left him to it, but Tori didn't.

"What are you doing, trying to memorize it in seconds?" she snorted.

"I already did." He mumbled, setting it down.

"Tobias has an eidetic memory. Didn't we tell you that?" Phoebe asked innocently.

"No. You didn't." Derek said, then shrugged. "So he's going to know, exactly, what the guards in that area can do?"

"Yep. So we'll leave it to him to inform us."

"That's my job," Tobias said solemnly. "It's what I do every time we have to do something. The Edison Group didn't know about it, which is why they left me alone except for the wing-experiments."

Phoebe noticed Chloe staring at the table with dark eyes, looking a little annoyed. "Chloe, can you...is there a ghost you can call, someone who would know where Dr. Fellows and Kit are being kept so they can point it out on the map, and you can circle it for us?"

She smiled. "I know someone." Her eyes fluttered shut and Phoebe noticed Derek shift closer, hand slipping onto her knee. She thought it was cute.

Zane suddenly stood up and left the room, slamming the door with a bang. Phoebe didn't react, but the others did.

"What's wrong with him?" Tori asked, rolling her eyes. Missy nodded in agreement, as did Bo.

"He doesn't like ghosts. The fact that they exist freaks him out." Tobias provided, shrugging. "Everyone has that one thing..."

"Yes, well, I'm still not completely steady about it either," Chloe murmured with her eyes still closed. "Liz?" She said quietly. Her eyes opened when the ghost answered. She smiled, but her eyes were unfocused. Phoebe watched in fascination as she looked at something Phoebe herself would never see, no matter how good or great or perfect her vision was. "No, I just wanted to see if you could circle the rooms that Lauren and Kit are in, on this map." She nodded. "Thank you." Her eyes focused again. "Does anyone have a pen?" Bo took one out of his shirt pocket and laid it on the table, his face blank.

"What's wrong with Bo?" Simon asked, close enough to make Phoebe jump a little.

"He tries to ignore all the supernatural stuff." She shrugged, though her voice shook a little. "He doesn't want to get us in trouble, so he just pretends he can't see it or hear it. It's safer and easier that way, for everyone."

"Oh."

"Simon, are we-" she broke off, watching in fascination as the pen lifted up and circled, slowly and precisely, over two lock-up rooms that Phoebe recognized. They were side-by-side, hers and Tobias's. She shuddered and Simon touched her leg lightly.

"Thank you." Chloe said, looking at something just beyond Phoebe and the others field of vision, her eyes just a little unfocused.

Phoebe looked at James, who, though he may have been sitting close to Tori, was watching his sister, who was watching Bo adoringly.

"James." She said softly. "You know I don't do this often, but I'm going to ask you one time. Do you want to stay here, with Missy and Bo while we do this?" She looked straight at him. His eyes were startled, but staring back.

Before he could answer, Missy said, "You should go, James. I'm fine with Daddy and Bo."

He looked at his sister for a long moment before turning to Phoebe. "Alright. But after, Phoebe, I'm coming here for good. I can't..." he moved his hands. "I can't stay away again. My sister, my dad, I don't want to leave them again." He slid a sly look toward Bo. "Plus, I have to stick around to see if Bowen gets any uglier with time." Bo's bright brown eyes got even brighter with laughter.

"Same to you, James." He laughed, a rich sound that, as a girl, Phoebe greatly appreciated. It was really no wonder that James and Bo were friends. She imagined that at school, the girls probably couldn't decide who they wanted more: the sweet, helpful, and friendly Bo, or the slightly mean, slightly womanizing, and more than slightly dangerous James.

"You two are idiots." Missy mumbled, pinching her brother and elbowing Bo.

"So how are we getting to New York again? Are we driving?" Derek asked. "That's going to take even longer."

"Actually..." Phoebe gave a tight lipped smile. "We're flying."

Derek stared at her for a moment. "Flying. So how do we get there?"

"No, I mean in an airplane. As in flying." She gave a full-body shudder.

**Chloe 1st POV**

We went to the airport, but no one knew quite what we were going to do when we got there. It was crowded, but I had a feeling that this worked to Phoebe's plan exactly.

"Please don't get upset, because if you have morals, this will probably bother you, but we're going to use Ava." She explained quietly.

We stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. Then my eyebrows rose as Ava smiled serenely.

"Oh. She's going to...tell them..."

"She's going to get us legit tickets, of course, but she's going to tell them that they've seen our ID's, and that they've been paid already." Phoebe shrugged. "I don't like it either, but..."

"Well, that makes it easier, at least." I mumbled, though I had to shift my backpack. I wondered if my debit card still worked. I knew that they could trace it, because my dad was still looking, though not as hard, but what would it hurt if they knew I used it here, down south, and I was going north?

"It's not a good idea." Derek said quietly in my ear. "If they can get us on for free, this once, then we'd better do it. I know it bothers you, it bothers me too, but I think while we're on a rescue mission, we should take what we can get."

"I know you're right, but that's not going to make it better."

"I know." He said softly, squeezing my hand. I squeezed back.

Watching Ava whisper into people's minds was weird. They first just looked at her. She smiled a little, tilting her head, and her eyes would flash once, and the person she was whispering to would answer aloud.

"Here are your tickets, Mr. and Mrs. Kim." The woman at the counter said to Simon and Phoebe, who both turned bright red and glared at Ava, who smiled angelically. Derek snickered against my shoulder. "And you, Mr. and Mrs. Schmitt." She said to us, and I flushed dark red.

"Ava, quit being mean." James said lightly, though he glanced at Tori with a grin.

We all had fake names and were sent through. Luckily, as soon as we got through security, the plane was boarding. I noticed with some surprise that Ava, Tobias, Phoebe, and James were all very pale and were hyperventilating. Simon grabbed Phoebe's hand, leaned over, and whispered, "It'll be alright."

We were seated in threes. Ava sat with me and Derek, oddly enough, and Simon, Phoebe, and Tobias sat behind us. Zane sat with Tori and James.

"What's wrong?" I asked Ava, who looked at me with wide, terrified eyes.

"We don't like planes. We prefer to fly with our wings. But we'd have to stop to rest if we flew ourselves." She said in a high voice.

"I don't think there's anything to worry about. There are flights all the time." I stopped myself from saying that rarely do they crash. There wasn't any point in scaring her like that. "Plus, if anything happens, you guys can just fly away from the wreckage."

"B-but you guys..." she sniffed, wiping her eyes. Touched, I put my arm around her.

"We'll be alright, Avie." I said, adopting Phoebe's nickname for her. "Why don't you go to sleep, so that you can just wake up when we get there?" She just shook her head, cuddling closer to me. I looked over my shoulder to see Derek watching, a weird look in his eyes.

When we got to New York, the first thing Phoebe did was assign us to go get food. She insisted we all eat in a restaurant because she didn't want to eat in a hotel room.

"I don't understand why we have to eat here." James said, though I assumed it was because he just wanted to get everything done.

"Because," Phoebe said as she led the way in. She took us to a buffet and used the last bit of her money.

"We might need that." Tobias whispered, looking suddenly stressed.

"And then we may not." She shrugged, but she had a weird reckless light in her eyes. "So, if we use it all, I can make more." She said, grinning at us as we were led to a table. "I'm creative."

"Hey." The sharp voice wasn't Tobias's, like I expected, but Simon's, and he actually looked a little jealous.

"Ew, Simon, don't be gross." Phoebe replied, hardly bothered. "I meant get a job." She sighed heavily. "A real job with animals."

"Do you want to work with animals when you get older?" I asked curiously as when we were at our table.

"Just grab a plate and get eating." The waitress said, smiling brightly. Tobias nodded at her politely, smiling, but she only had eyes for Zane, whose eyes were on Phoebe, whose eyes were on Simon for a moment before moving over to me.

"Yes, I do want to work with animals." She shrugged her shoulders in a way that I recognized and I tensed, almost expecting her wings to flare out, but when they didn't, I calmed, figuring she was showing me something. "You know, because they like me."

"They do?" Derek asked, surprised. I squeezed his fingers.

"Yeah." She frowned. "I don't know why. I know they don't like werewolves." Her voice lowered on the "W" word.

It was night time when we arrived at the Edison Group's lab. That was good, because we were all dressed in black, and blended pretty well. We'd stopped at a Radio Shack on the way there and bought long range radios. Phoebe connected them to earpieces, so that we didn't have to worry about loud noises busting us. Once there, Phoebe gave one look to my hair and smiled, handing me a black knit cap. She tied her hair in a long French braid, then pulled a cap over it, too. Ava smiled up at us, plucking at her dark hair.

"I don't need one," she whispered, "because my hair is already dark."

"Right you are, cutie-pie." Phoebe said just as quietly, patting her head and making her curls bounce. "Everyone know the plan?" The collective nods had her grinning. "Tori, Ava and James are staying outside to look out," she reminded them. "Is Liz here, Chloe?"

"I—yes." I said, looking over at Liz. She wiggled her fingers. "Yes, she's here."

"Good." She nodded and took a breath. "The side door that Bo marked is this way. Simon," she hesitated. I could tell that she wanted him to stay out, too, but she made herself just shake her head. "Never mind."

"Thank you," he said softly.

"Well, as you said, you're a sorcerer, and you have spells that are useful." She said brusquely, though her cheeks were pink. I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment that he'd noticed she was going against her instincts, or if she was excited about the mission. The glimmer in her eye said both.

"Good luck."

Phoebe stared at Tori for a minute, then smiled. "Thanks." She nodded at us and led the way.

We sneaked through the door, holding our breath and waiting for a swarm of guards or alarms to go off. Neither happened, so we assumed that Bo was right about this being the one door that they didn't even watch. I wondered if it was still in the wing that we destroyed the last time we were here, but it wasn't. I didn't recognize it, but it was clear that this wing was just as unused, dust covering the floor, cobwebs trailing from the ceiling. I had to cup my hand over my nose to keep from sneezing when we walked and kicked up the dust.

"Okay, we're in. There are cameras, so...James?" Phoebe said very softly into her earpiece.

Into all of our radios, I heard James say, "Bo's ready. He'll loop the video so that they don't notice anything."

"Thanks."

"Chloe, something's-" Liz started, cutting off abruptly.

I looked over at her, but she was gone. I blinked and opened my mouth to tell them that something was wrong, but then I saw a little boy just beyond them, standing in front of a wall. He waved at me, and I waved back. Then he beckoned me. He had dark curls and hazel eyes with black wings spread out behind him. He jerked his head toward the wall he was standing in front of. He had to be about ten years old. The others were already moving on.

Quickly, I moved over to the little boy. "What?" I asked quietly. He pointed at the wall and pantomimed pressing his palm against it and pushing. Biting my lip, I did as he instructed, surprised when the panel of wall open. I took a sharp breath. Just beyond the little opening was all dark. My heart thumped hard against my ribs. I looked at the little boy. He tilted his head, then went ahead of me. With him was a sort of light, a light I hadn't seen on any other ghost. Swallowing hard, I followed him. After crawling for a little bit, we came to some stairs. The boy glanced back at me and smiled again, then headed down the stairs. I followed him.

We arrived in a basement, of sorts. It was cold, and empty, and white. It was also filled with odd things that I assumed a pyromaniac like Rae would like, but things I wouldn't have any idea what to do with.

"What do you want me to do down here?" I asked, dusting cobwebs off of my clothes. The boy nodded toward the wires. "Why don't you speak?" I asked in frustration. His eyes grew sad and he turned his head. I followed his gaze and jumped with a squeak.

There was a circle of doctors in scrubs, standing over an operation table, looking down at the boy. He was strapped down and unconscious. The doctors were using a black Sharpie to draw incision lines on his throat. I caught my breath as they lifted a scalpel.

"I don't want to—please don't make me w-watch it all." I gasped, closing my eyes. When I opened them again, hesitantly, the boy was smiling sadly at me, but the residual, or whatever it was, was gone. I sighed and looked more closely at the boy. "Are you Ava's brother?" I blurted. His smile widened and he nodded. "What's your name?" He raised an eyebrow and pointed at his chest, where a small name tag read _Jay_. "Your name is Jay." He nodded. "Alright, Jay, what do you want me to do?"

**Phoebe**

She noticed, when they got further in, that Chloe was gone. Derek noticed at the same time as her, and he freaked.

"Derek, you have to be quiet." She snapped. "She probably saw a ghost. There are enough in this place." She murmured to herself, wiping her mouth. "After we get Lauren and Kit, we'll retrace our steps, and you can lead the search and follow her scent. They don't know we're here yet, so she's not in any trouble."

"I'm not leaving her to get lost in this place." He growled.

"She can take care of herself."

"Yeah, if there happens to be a convenient dead body around." He snapped.

"There are enough here." She repeated, turning on her heel. She heard Simon and Derek arguing, but she didn't listen. She hated this place, hated the smell and feel of it, and wanted to get in and out as fast as possible.

"There are guards over here." Tobias said quietly.

"I'll take them. How many?"

"Three."

"Zane?"

"I'd love to." He said fiercely.

Together, they quietly crept forward. Phoebe got behind the woman, the only woman in this part of the building. She took a breath, lifted her hands, and snapped her neck. It wasn't easy, as a person, to do it, and physically it would have been harder, if she wasn't freakishly strong. Zane snapped the man's neck like a toothpick, then looked at the other man. He turned to face them and widened his eyes. Zane punched his face so hard that he fell unconscious immediately.

"Leave him," Phoebe said when he bent to kill him. "There's no point, he's not a threat."

"At this moment." Zane grumbled, but didn't kill him.

"Let's keep going." She whispered to the others.

Derek looked downright furious, but he was coming. Phoebe let out a breath. She hoped there was time to get Chloe. She sincerely liked her and didn't want to leave her here. If there was a way, she'd get her out.

"Lauren and Kit's rooms coming up." Tobias said, though it was unneeded, at least for Phoebe. She'd recognize this hallway anywhere. A sick sense of dread overtook her, making her pause for a moment.

"We don't have time to waste, Phoebe. Let's move it. You wanted to keep going, then why are you stopping?" Derek said snidely. His eyes were narrowed, fists clenched...she was sure his heart was probably pounding and breaking.

"Hey," Tobias started, glaring. Phoebe shushed him.

"He's right, we don't have time to waste." She said briskly, walking forward and shaking off her fear. "Tobias, Zane, take care of the guards. I'd do it, but you know I'm best at picking locks." She knelt in front of Lauren's door and got to work.

After a few minutes, the door was open. Lauren was leaning against the wall, looking very sick. Phoebe rushed in and knelt by her side.

"Dr. Fellows? Dr. Fellows, look at me." Her eyes moved very slowly to focus on Phoebe. "I think she's dehydrated. Simon?"

He brought in the bag of supplies they packed, digging out a bottle of water. "Here."

"Thanks. Drink this, Dr. Fellows." She turned to Simon. "I'm going to get your dad's door open, okay? Stay with her." She exited the room in time to see Derek successfully pick the lock to Kit's door. "How did you-"

"I watched you, didn't I? What, am I blind?" he snapped, glowering.

"No, but most people can't just _watch _someone do something and then know how to—Mr. Bae!" Phoebe gasped, rushing in. Kit was on the floor, bloody and bruised.

"Tried to fight..." he mumbled, trying to lift himself up. He grabbed Phoebe's wrist. "Derek? Simon? Chloe? Tori?" he asked.

"Derek's here, and Simon's with Lauren. Tori's outside with James and Ava." She said soothingly, wiping blood from his face and neck with an alcohol swab. Derek moved closer so that his father could see him. Mr. Bae's amber eyes watched Phoebe for a moment, as if he knew that she'd skipped someone on the list, but they were confused, too, like he wasn't sure who.

"What happened, Dad?" he asked quietly.

"I tried to escape." He said, taking a breath and really trying to sit up. Phoebe supported him with her arm, examining him.

"You have no broken bones, and I think you can walk." She hesitated. "Is your head okay?"

"It's fine. I have a few bumps, but I'll be okay." He said, trying to get to his feet.

Derek helped him stand up, then shot Phoebe a look. She saw that whatever friendship they'd had was probably lost due to her pushing on and leaving Chloe. She lifted her chin and walked by. Tobias and Zane were back.

"They're taken care of."

"Alright. Tobias, please go in there," she pointed to Lauren's room, "and help her walk. Derek, you and Tobias are going to take them outside. Zane, Simon and I are going to find Chloe." She took a breath, bracing herself for arguments. Derek squared his shoulders and nodded.

"Alright, let's go." Tobias said, then frowned. "Well, I'd try to teleport myself and Dr. Fellows out, but I don't think that'd be fair." He smiled weakly.

"Go ahead," Phoebe said quietly. "We'll go the other way, toward where we came in." Before they could get anywhere, an alarm blipped, causing them all to tense. "Tobias, take Lauren and Kit back into your old room." She ordered, speaking rapidly.

Tobias hooked an arm around Dr. Fellows and his other around Kit, and led them back. Phoebe tensed, got ready.

The guards came rushing from everywhere. They grinned upon seeing Phoebe and she felt her gut clench. Her breathing came in harsh gasps. _Oh, God, I'm here again, and they're going to catch me, and they're going to throw me on one of those tables, and strap me down, and-_ Her panic thoughts stopped short when a hand took hers.

She looked over at Simon, whose mouth was tight around the edges and pulled down grimly, but he still held her hand, even though he was worried—she could tell. He also looked older than he actually was.

"Hi, there, Phoebe, girl." A man grinned. "Where's that brother of yours, and that hillbilly?"

"Not here." She said, shrugging and stepping forward, getting ready. The man, Geoffrey, was making sure no one went first. He was in charge, she knew, and she also knew other things about him. What he did on his off time. Who he had regular dates with. "So...how's Dory and her crew?"

Geoffrey bared his teeth. "Recovering." He made a signal and they rushed forward.

Phoebe ducked a knife, then broke a wrist, all the while keeping half of her attention on her back.

Derek, while fighting, noticed something strange. Phoebe and Simon were protecting each other. Not that Derek himself wouldn't have protected Chloe, but this was different. He wouldn't let Chloe do _anything_ in a fight like this, she would get hurt. He'd end up getting hurt trying to protect her.

Phoebe and Simon managed to protect each other without stumbling. It was like a rhythmic dance, except with bloodshed and grunts and the occasional half-crazed laugh. It was weird, Derek decided, but for his brother's sake, he thought maybe he could forgive Phoebe. One day, eventually.

For now, though, he couldn't manage to snap the neck of the man he was fighting, couldn't do it the way Phoebe seemed to find so easy. Couldn't do it emotionlessly like Zane was doing. Simon wasn't either, but that didn't mean...

"Derek, just cut off his oxygen until he passes out." Tobias said, his voice coming from behind Derek. "It's easier." His voice was just a little shaky. Derek closed the man's mouth, and held his nose closed.

Phoebe hit the wall with a grunt, the breath leaving her. She widened her eyes when a bullet exploded on the wall beside her head, and she dropped to the ground, kicking hard at the guard's legs.

Fire flared on Simon's pant leg, and Phoebe couldn't help but laugh as she rolled over to smother it with her hands. He caught her arm and pulled her up to stand next to him, just in time to take a fist to the jaw.

"Thanks for that, Simon." She managed to laugh as she punched the man back. A couple of her knuckles broke, but she ignored it.

This fight was _probably_ going to end badly, but maybe, just maybe, she could forget about all that. She wished for that numbness that she'd had when she had to do something like this, with the Control Chip.

"What's going on?" James's voice said in her earpiece.

"There's a fight, James," she giggled into the speaker. "There's a fight and I'm going to win." Her voice sounded strange even to her, high and reedy and childish, but James seemed to recognize it.

"Shit," he said, then his voice was muffled, but still speaking. Phoebe took her earpiece out, dropped the radio and crunched it under her boot. Then she snapped her head up and grinned at the enemy.

"Derek, Tobias, take Dr. F, and Mr. B, and _go_." She said.

Zane looked at her, then said, "I'll make a clear path."

**Chloe**

I was up to my elbows in greasy, oily wires and parts, and I had no idea what I was doing; I was sweating and shaking, but I was listening to ten voices, ten children's voices telling me what to do. I couldn't see them—they were scared to show themselves.

"Cross the blue and the red there, and add that green one there, so you have time to get out." A girl said.

"Yeah, and put that bolt in there, with the wrench." A boy said, sounding much younger than the girl.

I wasn't sure what I was doing, but I knew that it was a bomb. The pieces looked the same to me, but the kids knew what they were. Absently, I wiped my forearm across my forehead, wiping sweat off, and probably black engine grease or something all over my face.

"Don't!" A girl shouted, and I stopped what I'd been doing. "That's the wrong piece! It's this one here!" A piece hit my foot.

"Thanks." I gasped, picking it up. I was on my knees, crouched in front of the patchwork thing I was making. "Are you guys blocking Liz?" I asked, still panting.

"Yes." The girl replied, calmly as she let the others instruct me further. "We have to block all other ghosts because if we don't, they'll have a necromancer send a ghost-spy down to find you." She sighed. "I hate them."

"Does anyone know where Phoebe and the rest are?" I mumbled, biting my cheek as I twisted the wrench as hard as I could.

"Phoebe's still alive?" A young voice chirped, excited.

"Yes, so are Tobias, Ava, and James." I replied breathlessly, eyes focused intently on my work.

"This one, the red wire." A boy said, close by. He sounded like he could've been Tobias's age, but calm and quiet. "They get distracted easily, but we're going to get you out safe and sound, Chloe, don't worry."

"I can't worry yet," I mumbled. "You guys have me working fast."

He chuckled. "If we don't, you won't make it out."

Jay was still there, pointing to the pieces that the kids who didn't have telekinetic powers told me to get. I appreciated it greatly, because otherwise I wouldn't know what they were talking about.

"Now, don't panic at this part, or else everything will be shot to hell." The boy said quietly. "I want you to set the digital clock you put in there, I want you to set it to three."

"Three, like three seconds?" I squeaked.

"No, calm down, honey." He said soothingly, and I swore I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Make it look like three o'clock. It'll give you three minutes. That's enough."

"How do you know?" I whispered, freezing in fear.

"Because your friends are already about to find you. You're going to have to make sure they get out with you, without asking questions, but that's no big deal." He sounded soothing still, and closer. "Before you do that though, I have to ask you a favor. My name is Tucker." I felt my gut clench. "I just-" his voice caught. "I know that, as a rule, necromancers don't really do favors for ghosts, but my girlfriend thinks I left her and my daughter on purpose. That I just bailed on them. I didn't. I have a bank account with a lot of money in it." He rattled off his information.

"I don't know if I can remember." I gasped. "I can't-"

I felt a cold touch on my cheek, like he'd kissed me or touched my face. "You will. I trust you. Thank you." He made a sound. "Even if you can't, it's okay."

"I'll try, I promise." I swore, then, and looked at the clock. I set it.

"Press the button at the top." Tucker told me quietly.

I did so and stood up. When I turned, there was a wall of ten kids of all different ages and colors and shapes, all with wings spread and oddly placed scars. They all waved at me, before disappearing. Jay quickly led me upstairs, and I wondered if I'd ever moved so quickly. Surely not.

"Chloe!" It was Simon's surprised voice as I tumbled into him. "Where have you been? Jesus, what's all over you?" He asked, steadying me automatically.

"We have to run, we have to run _right now_." I gasped, pushing him.

Phoebe took one look at me and took off running. Zane was right beside her. She reached out and grabbed my hand, grabbing Simon's with her other hand, and we were flying as quickly as Phoebe's long legs could drag us. I stumbled, but she didn't give me a chance to slow us down. Jay was still with us.

We were about eleven yards from the place when it exploded. And I mean _exploded_. It tossed us to the ground in a wave of heat. Phoebe spread her wings over us to protect us from the fire, but I felt it anyway, and my ears started ringing as the explosion rocked the ground. I curled into a ball, hands over my head.

When it stopped, smoke started billowing around us. Coughing, we got to our feet. Simon gasped and patted the back of Phoebe's shirt out, as it was on fire. She winced, but sighed when it was completely out. I stood still for a moment, head spinning and ears ringing. Phoebe said something, then wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Her ears must've been ringing too.

Zane was holding his head and moaning, and I remembered that his hearing was sharper than ours and felt a surge of sympathy. I touched my head and shook it, coughing as the smoke reached us. I took a breath and let it out in a sigh when the ringing stopped. I crouched beside Zane and spoke soothingly until he could hear me.

"What's that?" He stood straight up, knocking me back.

I glowered at his back, then turned to face Phoebe and Simon, who were trembling and dusting each other off, and talking, asking if they could hear yet. They clearly couldn't.

I looked over my shoulder again and saw figures running toward us. Zane went tense, but I didn't need to see their faces to know who they were—I could see Derek's form and I took off running.

We collided hard, but he didn't let me fall, he held me tight, then lifted me straight up and put his lips on mine hard, his tongue slipping between my lips and tilting his head. He held me tightly and I felt myself go dizzy. His fingers dug into my tangled, slightly charred and dirty hair. He was shaking, but still kissing me, and holding me off my feet.

"God, God, I thought you were still in there." He gasped, pressing kisses over my face despite the dirt and soot and whatever-else on my cheeks.

Behind us, Simon grabbed Phoebe in an embrace much the same as the one Derek had me in, except that she grabbed his face and pulled him close first, wrapping her legs around his waist while Derek had pinned my legs because he was holding me so tight.

**Zane**

The couples were kissing, all of them, laughing and joyously kissing others, too. Tori and James were making out one minute, and the next, Tori gave Tobias an enthusiastic kiss as well. It was just friendly, Zane could tell.

Simon and Phoebe were still holding each other, not only kissing, but breaking away for a few breathless moments to murmur to each other lovingly. Tobias was holding Ava, who was crying, while he applied medical attention to the two adults, who were still dazed and confused from their time in the lab.

So, since they were all busy, no one saw Jeffers limping out of the fiery lab, one of his arms held awkwardly to his side, as if it was broken. The other hand held something, but Zane wasn't sure what it was. He decided to let him get closer, even though it made his heart thump warily.

Jeffers got close enough to them to make Zane growl under his breath, and then he lifted his arm, aiming a gun at Simon's back. He wasn't close enough to touch, wasn't close enough to jump at, but close enough to hit Simon, if he shot. Zane wasn't sure if he wanted to stop him. Jeffers cocked the gun, just at the same moment that Phoebe murmured, "God, I love you so much, I do, I can't help it."

"I love you, too, so don't worry about it," Simon laughed quietly.

Zane closed his eyes. At the last moment, he said, simply, "No," and stepped into the path of the bullet as Jeffers shot.

**Phoebe**

She heard the shot and jumped, starting to drop to the ground with Simon, but she froze when she saw Zane's body falling. She stared, then looked past him to see Jeffers still holding his gun. Phoebe shut her eyes, which were teary.

Then she leaped straight into the air, spread her wings, and dove at Jeffers. He looked confused, _who to shoot at?_, but by the time he decided who to aim at, she'd already landed on him and snapped a kick at his throat, then smashed the heel of her hand under his nose, shattering it and sending the shards into his brain. He fell to the ground much the same as Zane had moments ago.

"Bastard," she murmured.

She knew, looking back at the group of them, standing stock still in shock now, that Zane had not taken the bullet for her, but for Simon, and that touched her heart more than she could ever say. Tears ran down her cheeks and with a sob, she covered her face with her hands, leaving her wings out as she cried. Simon came to her and pressed her face to his shoulder.

"It's over now." He said quietly.

"For now," she whispered, squeezing him tight.

"Phoebe." Chloe ran over and Phoebe laughed through her tears. "I'm sorry about Zane." She said, and Phoebe saw with some surprise that her eyes were wet, too, not filled with just sympathy, but genuine sadness.

"What a sensitive thing you are, Chloe Saunders." Phoebe murmured, reaching out to pat her shoulder.

"I—what?"

"Never mind." She smiled and pressed her cheek against Simon's shoulder. Tears still leaked, unnoticed, through her lashes.

"There was a boy, in the basement. Well, there were a lot of kids, but there was a boy named Jay."

"Ava's brother. He died when they tried to change his vocal cords."

"I know." Chloe murmured. "But there was another boy, too, and his name was Tucker, and he said that he had a daughter." She explained what he said.

"Yes, I remember Tucker." Phoebe said quietly. "But I didn't know he had a daughter."

"I need to know if you think it'll be possible to..."

"I'm sure it will. If not you, then I can do it." She said, lowering her eyes. "He was a sweetheart and I'd hate for his girlfriend to think badly of him."

"Lauren's checking Zane, to see if he can be saved." Chloe said hesitantly.

"He's dead." Phoebe said, squeezing Simon again for comfort. "He's dead, and I know it, because I felt it." She shuddered. "I'm going to miss him, the irritating..." she lost her breath and turned her face against Simon's chest, sobbing again.

He didn't shush her, like some people did.

He just stroked her hair and rocked her a little. Derek wandered over and took Chloe into his arms again, as if unable to let her go for too long.

This time, though, they all watched the burning building warily, waiting for anyone to come out with another gun.

"I did that..." Chloe said as they watched, face pressed against Derek's chest. "I can't believe I did that. I _did_ do that, right?"

"Yes," Derek chuckled, "you did that, Chloe."

"I _made a bomb_. How weird..."

Phoebe figured she was in shock, just like the rest of them, and as a leader, Phoebe was supposed to deal with that, but she couldn't. Something in her was bleeding steadily and to compensate that, her eyes continued to leak tears of sorrow for her best friend while Simon stroked her hair, which had, at some point, come loose of it's braid.

She found it amusing, in a semi-hysterical, distanced sort of way, that in the movies, not only do people walk from explosions steadily, but their hair is always perfect or at least close to it. Phoebe's hair was knotted, and charred, and stiff with her own blood. And possibly other body fluids, from other people, but that was something she didn't want to think about. And, surprisingly enough, Simon didn't seem to care as he continued to stroke and soothe.

"Now, for the last time," Chloe said distantly, "I'd really like to never see this place again."

Through her tears, Phoebe started laughing, but it sounded like sobbing, and Simon clutched her more tightly.


	8. The Last Bit

**Chapter Eight**  
**Chloe POV**

Phoebe insisted on taking Zane's body back with us to James's hometown. No one had the heart to protest. On the way there, Phoebe fell asleep leaning against Simon. I leaned against Derek, who hadn't stopped holding me since we'd gotten out of the lab.

Missy and Bo met us first thing in the morning when we got there. Phoebe, Tobias, James, and Ava all set to digging a grave for Zane. There wouldn't be a headstone or marker, but I have a feeling that they wouldn't need one. I couldn't watch, but Aunt Lauren decided to help them with the...with Zane. I felt useless, until I saw Missy and the bruise on her shoulder that Bo was frowning over.

"I'm going to go into town for a bit," I said softly to Derek. "Just to walk around. I don't...well, you know." I gestured at Phoebe.

"Want me to come with?" he asked quietly, shifting forward as if I'd already said yes.

"No," I said, a little annoyed. "I'm fine on my own." As if I hadn't already proven I could handle myself.

Ava, covered in dirt and, if I wasn't mistaken, a few tears, came over just as Derek opened his mouth to say something and grabbed my hand, yanking me down to her level with strength that I hadn't personally experienced from her before.

"Chloe," she whispered very softly, obviously in an effort to hide the conversation from Derek; I didn't have the guts to tell her that it was near impossible to hide a conversation from him. "Just so you don't get mad at him, he was really, really upset and scared when he thought you were in the building still. He was going to go in after you, actually, but I didn't let him." She smiled at me brightly. "He was very worried about you. And now he feels like if he lets you out of his sight again, he might lose you permanently, so he's trying to keep you close."

A glance up at Derek's flushed and rigid face proved that Ava was not only right, but probably using some of his own words, directly plucked from his line of thoughts that night.

"Thanks." I whispered, kissing her cheek, then standing up. I crossed my arms, then uncrossed them. We both seemed to be shifting uneasily. "Is what she said true?"

"What'd she say?" he asked in a rigid, icy voice borne of embarrassment.

"Don't act like you couldn't hear her, Derek Souza." I said quite calmly. "Now, tell me, is what she said true?"

"Yeah." He blurted, glaring at me. "Yeah, so what?" he snapped. "I was worried about Simon and Phoebe too." His eyes were like green ice chips, and that sliced at me, even though I knew what was making him this way. "I was worried about everyone."

"I know that, Derek," my voice was quiet and just a little heated to combat against the cold I could feel from him. "What, you think I don't know how much you care about your brother and friends?"

"That's not what I-"

"Yes it is." I said hotly. "That is exactly what you meant!" Usually, I realized, I was the calm, cold and reasonable one. How long had our roles been reversed? Certainly not long. "And that's fine, Derek. I just—God, I just want you to-"

"To _what_, Chloe? If you don't say what you want, I can't do anything for you. I can't read your mind."

"And I can't read yours." I said softly, watching as his face registered shock.

"Is _that_ what this is about?" he asked quietly. "You don't think..."

"You walked out the other night. You just walked out and left me." I lifted my hands helplessly. "How could I know what you meant by that besides the obvious? You walked out, and you told me not to come with you." My lip trembled.

"Chloe," he said in a much gentler tone. He didn't seem able to go on for a moment, glaring at a tree to our right. Finally he said, "I forgot."

"What?"

Furiously, he said, while bending to pick up a small branch, "I forgot, okay?"

"You forgot what?" I asked, baffled.

He started peeling at the branch with a rock, still working with a bit of fury in him. "I forgot about everyone else when I thought you were still in that building." Shocked, I could only stare as he continued to destroy the twig piece by piece. "I forgot that my brother was still in there, and that Phoebe was still in there, or her friend. I just thought that I had to get in to save you." He looked at me hopelessly. "I don't want to think that I'd let my brother die like that."

"Of course you don't," I said softly, taking a step forward. "And you wouldn't, not ever."

"Then why," he started, taking a step away from me, "didn't I even give him a thought?"

"I don't know." I said, with surprising confidence for such a statement. "But I know that you wouldn't have left him."

"How can you know that?" he demanded furiously, shooting a look over his shoulder at his brother, who was trying to convince Phoebe to take a break.

"Because I know you, Derek. And the you I know would _never_ leave anyone behind; you'd much rather it be you in the fire than me or Simon." I shook my head. "That's why we all worry about you; you'd prefer to put yourself in danger than _ever_ see me or Simon hurt."

"You aren't hearing me." He said, coldly. "I didn't once think of my brother at that precise moment. If you'd have asked me what my brother's name was, I would have answered with _what brother_?" He shook his head and, if I wasn't mistaken, his eyes were glossy.

"Derek, I know you're upset about that." I took a breath. "But it's..." It's what? Natural? How can I know that? I had no experience, no parents to question; Lauren is still single. "But if you'd just listen to me, you'd hear what I'm saying: I know you, probably better than you let yourself know _you_, and I know you wouldn't have left Simon." My voice was sharp and quick.

He stared at me for a moment, rubbed his face, looked away, then finally looked at his feet. "Where are you going?" he asked softly.

"I'll be fine. I'm just going to take a walk. I'll be back soon." I spoke slowly and deliberately so that I wouldn't stutter.

He didn't look up. "Alright."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "I'll see you later."

"Alright," he repeated in that same subdued tone.

I didn't bother to tell Lauren where I was going because if I did, she'd have insisted on coming with me. Instead I sneaked away, looking behind me as soon as I was clear to see if I'd been followed. I hadn't.

When I got to the house, I went up from the woods that I'd found...it in. I felt sick about what I was doing, slightly, but I'd talked to the ghost before, and he seemed okay with it. And, did it count as evil if you were doing it for good? I don't think so, actually, but I'm human—in the loosest sense of the word—and if I was ever going to do something despicable, isn't it better that I do it to someone like Dell Marks?

The back door was unlocked; James' mother was asleep on the couch again. I glared at her, wondering what type of mother would let that happen to her daughter. I couldn't imagine; I shook my head and followed the hall back. The bedroom door was cracked; Dell was asleep—sort of. Dozing with a beer in his hand. I hoped he wasn't too drunk; I wanted him to remember this for the rest of his miserable life.

"Okay, Mr. Pierce." I murmured, letting the zombie go past me. It rattled past, but his...corpse was still able to walk; sort of. Actually, it was more of a hobble and drag. Real horror movie stuff. "And thank you."

It rattled its jaw—I mean, he rattled his jaw in what I'm assuming was acknowledgment. I watched as he rattled in and Dell sat up quickly, raining beer cans everywhere. His eyes widened in alarm.

"What the fuck? Andrew?"

"It's him." I said, stepping into the room as Mr. Pierce nodded, sort of. "Do you remember how he died?" I asked, feeling sort of...badass. Go Chloe.

"H-heart attack, wasn't it?" he asked, slurred more from fear than from the beer.

"Was it?" I tilted my head, looking at Mr. Pierce. He shook his head, jaw rattling in a way that made my stomach sort of roll."Why don't you get a little closer, Mr. Pierce? I think Dell missed you, buddy." He hobbled forward, reaching for Dell. He shrieked like a woman. "Now, I can call him off, Dell, but he's getting so much satisfaction from it. You know what he told me to tell you?"

"NO! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" He screamed, scrambling backward away from the zombie. "JUST GET HIM AWAY!" Dell tumbled off the bed, still scrambling away in frenzied movements.

"I can't. He has that one last request before he can rest in peace. Don't you want to hear it?"

He was using a lamp as a shield as Mr. Pierce inched forward. "WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET HIM AWAY, DO IT!"

"He said," I started, then shook my head. "Mr. Pierce, please stop. Dell, stop screaming." When he didn't, I shouted, "SHUT UP!" I tried not to flush instinctively when he did and focused on me, his breathing heavy and erratic. "He said that if you touch another person that is unwilling again, or if you touch Missy like that again, he'll come back. And guess what, Dell?" I lowered my voice. "So will I. And I can tell you that, as scary as Mr. Pierce may be, I'm ten thousand times worse." _Come in_, I ordered to the others. I motioned Liz. She started rattling the pictures, the dresser, everything she could.

Two huge, decomposed wolf corpses came in, growling and straining against my will. They flashed teeth as big as my finger, decomposed but still threatening.

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Dell screamed.

"Swear it!"

"I SWEAR!"

"I don't believe you," I said quietly. "I really don't."

When I was done, I went outside, released all of the bodies, sat on the grass, and vomited violently. I was shuddering and shaking and crying, but I also felt slightly vindicated. I jumped and yelped when I felt someone touch my shoulder; it was Derek.

"Come here, baby." He whispered, pulling me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck and buried my face against him, still crying a little.

**Tori**

Normally, when a boy had that much baggage, Tori would just brush him off as not worth it. But James seemed to be worth it, and that scared her to death.

"Tori? You can come if you want." James said softly. He was next to his sister, who stood very close to his best friend.

"Come where?" Tori asked, puzzled.

James raised an eyebrow. "My house, darlin'. That's where we're headed."

"Oh." She glanced back toward the others. Derek and Chloe had wandered off, Lauren and Kit were dozing in the van. Phoebe was laying with her head on Simon's lap. Tobias and Ava were talking quietly. The grave seemed so big, so right there, in their faces. "Sure. Come on."

When they got to Bo's truck, though, Kit came running out of the forest. Tori stopped and turned to look at him. James said something, and the rest of them got in the truck. Tori waved James off and waited. Her leg was burning and it was hot—she was sweating a little. What did he want?

"Where are you going?" he finally asked.

Tori's eyebrows flew up. "I'm going to James's house. It's hot and I don't want to stand out here."

Kit looked over toward James, Bo, and Missy. "With all of them?"

"I assume Bo will go home, and Missy's obviously going to her house, which is where we're going." Tori spoke to him as if he was slow—he was acting like it.

Kit paused for a moment, taking deep breaths. "Tori, we have to talk..."

Ice slid over her skin at his tone, making her tremble once. "No, actually, we don't."

"It's important—you have to know."

"That's for me to decide, and I decide I don't need to know." She turned before he could say anything else and went to the truck. James slid his arm around her as Bo turned the air conditioning on.

"What'd he want?"

"I dunno."

Mr. Montgomery's house was set back from his farm, where there were cows wandering around. Tori squealed embarrassingly when one came too close after they'd entered the fence. James told Missy and Bo to go on to the house.

"You wanna see one?"

"Uh..." Tori hesitated, staring at the big creatures in trepidation. "I've never seen one—you know, besides on TV."

"Cool. I can give you a tour." James laced his fingers with hers and tugged her along. "Is your leg hurting you?" he asked suddenly, watching her limp.

"I—a little." She said, shifting.

"Sit here, I'll look at it." He bent to look at it while Tori just held still. He gave her a light shove onto the ground, so that he could get a better look.

"Watch it. I may only have one leg, but..." she raised her hands threateningly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're a badass witch." He muttered, prodding the stitches. Tori hissed, but let him continue checking. She watched his face for a moment; his eyes were sad.

"You were friends with Zane, too."

"Yeah."

"It seems to me that maybe everyone's thinking about how Phoebe's taking it and not wondering how all of his other friend's are taking it."

"Phoebe grew up with him. They were best friends."

"He was your friend, too, James." Tori said quietly, which made him look up quickly. His eyes went soft.

"Yeah, he was." He took a breath. "He was my friend, too. And he's gone, so there's no reason to dwell on it." He said, then bent and kissed her leg, where the stitches were. "I'm sorry that I let them hurt you, and I'm fine. Let's go look at the horses."

"You have horses?" Tori asked in disbelief, letting him help her stand up.

"Yes, we do. You know how to ride?"

"Uh, no." Tori laughed. "I've never seen one up close. Same with probably all the animals you have here."

"Hmm...interesting. I guess that means you've never rolled in the hay. Literally. With a country boy."

"Hmmm...no, but if that country boy has blond hair, that may hold some appeal, though, I must admit, I'm more of a bed girl myself."

"Huh. We'll see, darlin'."

Everything seemed normal again. Or as normal as it could be. And James was a lot stronger than he let on, which Tori saw, in detail, when he took his shirt off to wiggle into the barn and help Tori in while telling her not to strain her leg.

**Simon**

He wasn't sure what to do for her. She seemed so sad. Simon had never felt more useless in his life, as he watched Phoebe pace around slowly, ghost like.

"Why don't you sit down and eat something?" he asked hesitantly, standing to go to her. She just looked at him for a moment.

"Why is it that whenever someone is sad, mourning, people try to get them to eat?" She asked, walking toward him. He froze in his tracks.

"I, uh, I guess because if someone died, the mourners want something to prove that life goes on. And eating is something you have to do in order to live."

"I know something else that the living do." She said, still walking toward him.

"Um. What?"

"Come here." She grabbed him around the neck and pulled him forward, planting her mouth firmly on his. "Come with me. Let's go back more. Where we won't be interrupted." She breathed, pressing way too much of herself against Simon for him to think clearly.

"Phoebe, you're upset, and this is _not_ the way to deal with it."

"Why not? You want me, I want you, we love each other, we're here." She looked around. "Your brother isn't going to interrupt us, and I _want to._"

Simon shuddered at the tone of voice she used, trying to convince himself that he very seriously did not want her, not at that moment, not in the woods, and not when her friend had just died. He pushed her hips back, but she dipped one hip to the side, wiggling against him and making him lose his breath.

"Stop that," he gasped, especially when she latched her mouth hard against his neck.

"Why?"

"Because you don't-" _don't what?_ he wondered, turning his head so he could nip her jaw, which was covered in smooth white skin that he just wanted to devour.

"Don't...?" she breathed, tugging at his shirt and sliding her hand up his bare stomach. He shuddered.

"Stop it, Phoebe."

This time she took a step back, took a breath, whipped her wings out, and flew straight up, after casting him a nasty look.

"She's going to be mad for awhile, but..." Tobias shrugged. Simon jumped.

"I—I, ah, didn't see you."

"I just got here. She'll get over it soon, so don't worry. She just wanted something to distract her." Tobias sighed heavily. "Thanks for not, you know, just dropping your pants."

"I wouldn't have done that." Simon frowned. "I can tell she's upset, but it's kind of hard to get her to talk about it."

"I know that," Tobias smiled. "I'm her brother. But don't give up too easily. Just be more stubborn than her. And she likes your eyes, so use those on her as much as you can."

Simon frowned. "Why does it sound like...?"

"I'm leaving? Because me and Ava are going somewhere. Phoebe's all yours."

"You can't do that." Simon said quickly. "She just lost Zane, she can't lose you, too."

"I have to." Tobias took a breath. "She wants to stay with you. Tori wants to stay with James, who wants to stay here. Ava and I aren't like that; now that we know what it's like, we have to keep moving. And Ava sort of wants to keep working on the people who started the Edison Group. You know. Take care of it. If we ever meet up again..."

"I'm telling you that you can't just leave—you have to say goodbye or something..." Simon sounded frantic, but he couldn't imagine Phoebe without her brother. It wasn't fair that he was going to abandon her like this.

"I'm not abandoning her." Tobias snapped. "She needs to take care of herself for a bit, needs to do what she wants for awhile." He shrugged. "She doesn't need to be the older one for now." He took a step forward. "But when I next see you guys, and I see that you've been mistreating her, I will kill you."

"I'm not the one taking off on her." Simon snapped, eyes narrowed.

"She doesn't need the reminder." Tobias murmured, waved, and disappeared to get Ava. Simon sat down hard and started swearing hard.

Derek and Dad came over to sit with him, one on either side. Simon looked at them, wondering what to say.

"Phoebe's flying." He muttered, digging his fingers into the grass.

"We know." Dad said gently. "We know that Tobias and Ava are gone, too."

"Sucks."

"Yeah." Derek agreed. "But there are less of us now. And Tobias can take care of himself and Ava."

"Is Tori going to stay here with James?"

"Like hell." Dad said mildly.

"What's with you?" Simon asked, twisting to look at him. "Why not? Mr. Montgomery probably won't mind, and he's got all that space."

"She's not staying with him."

"Phoebe's staying with us." He pointed out, glaring.

"James can come if he wants."

"You can't tell him to choose between his sister and Tori. That's not fair." Simon said, then wondered why he was fighting Tori's battle. Maybe it was because he felt like she was being put unfairly in the middle.

"Where are we going next, anyway?" Derek asked before an argument could ensue. "If we got a house here for awhile, no one would be able to find us. It's small and secluded and I'm sure there are places to stay. We could get fake names and stuff from Bo—he's a genius with computers—and go to school." He shrugged.

Simon stared at him. Derek hated the school deal. What was with him?

"I don't think-"

"We have no leads as to where to go next, anyway. And when we do, we can bolt, but for now, it's smarter just to...stay." Derek set his jaw.

"We'll have to discuss it with Lauren. If she wants to leave, we can't stop her from leaving and taking Chloe."

"Hm." Derek said, sarcastically. His eyes were narrowed. Simon knew he'd never stay behind while Chloe went. It was the way things were for him now. Just like Simon himself would never stay while Phoebe left.

"There's-"

Phoebe landed hard in front of them, hands on her hips. Her eyes were puffy, like she'd been crying, but other than that, she looked generally unharmed; Simon sighed.

"Where's Chloe?" she demanded.

"That way." Derek said. "We're trying to stay here."

"Smart. We should." She walked off after making that groundbreaking statement, not glancing toward Simon.

"She's a bossy one, Simon. You're going to have your hands full."

"I know, Dad. That's what's great about it."

"So...we're staying here, I think." Dad said, sighing. "I like it here, too."

"Let's go tell Lauren."

"Let's."

Simon watched as they walked away, hands sliding into his pockets. Maybe things weren't done; no, scratch that, nothing was done. The only thing over was a friend's life (it was much easier to call Zane a friend when he was out of the picture). Everything else was just beginning, new things starting. It seemed like a new adventure, and if Simon worded it like that to Phoebe, he could just bet that she'd be interested.

**This is the last chapter of Icarus, guys! Thanks for reading!**

**Just so everyone knows: I'm thinking about doing a story about Tobias and Ava's adventure; they meet up with Rae and some friends. I don't know if I'll put it up on fanfiction, though. If enough people like the idea, maybe. Thanks again! **


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